Ismael

Locally spelled Ismail in TR Türkiye, NG Nigeria, IN India and 1 more and Исмоил in TJ Tajikistan.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.

Ismael is one spelling over 3 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 3 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

• Spanish63%

  Ishmael (biblical character)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  Hebreo: 'Dios escucha' o 'Dios oyó'.

  as a name·Diccionario etimológico de nombres propios

• English11%

  Obsolete form of Ishmael.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• Portuguese9.6%

  Ishmael (eldest son of Abraham)

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Ismael, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Malik
• Felipe
• Khalil
• Harun
• Omar
• Haris
• Miguel
• Gael
• Karim
• Hassan
• Zakariya
• Amir

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Ismael is also recorded as 9 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Catalan given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Argentina, Andorra

  Also written Ismaël

• a separate name6 spellings in the group

  Also written Ismaēl, Ismäel, Ismaël, Ismae͏̈l, Ismaêl

• Swahili given name12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Kenya, United States, Philippines, Spain

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Ismaèl, Ismaël, Ismaél, Isma'El, Ismäël

• Indonesian given name11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, Indonesia, United States, Malaysia

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Ismaël, Ismaèl, Isma'El, Ismaêl, Ismăel

• French (Côte d’Ivoire) given name2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Côte d’Ivoire

  Also written Ismaël

• Thai given name107 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Thailand, Laos, Türkiye, United States

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written อิสมาแอ, อิสมะแอ, อิสมาแอล, Ismail, Ismaae

• Finnish given name6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Spain, Finland, Philippines

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Ismaël, Ismäël, Ïsmäël

• Russian given name17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Iraq, Ukraine, Russia

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian

  Also written Исмаел, Ісмаель, Исмаель, Исмаэл, Ісмаел

• Hungarian given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Peru, Spain, United States

  Also written Ismáél, Ĩśmáĕĺ

69 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Ismael is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• God listens; Ismael (Gen 16, 11)

  as a name·Dicionario Sefaradi De SobrenomesDictionary Of Sephardic Surnames Inclusive Cristaos-Novos, Conversos, Marranos, Italianos,…

• In French, Origine hébraïque, « Dieu entendra ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Ismail Samanib. 849KGAmir of the Samanid Empire from 892 to 907
• Ibn Kathirb. 1301SYnot in their usual nameSyrian Islamic historian, exegete and scholar (c.1300–1373)
• Ismail Ib. 1487IRfounder and first shah of Safavid Iran
• Ismail IIb. 1533IRSafavid Shah of Iran from 1576 to 1577
• Ismail Ibn Sharifb. 1645MASultan of Morocco from 1672 to 1727
• Isma'il Pashab. 1831EGnot in their usual nameKhedive of Egypt from 1863 to 1879
• Ismail al-Faruqib. 1921USPalestinian-American Muslim philosopher and scholar (1921–1986)
• Ismail Merchantb. 1936INIndian film producer (1936–2005)
• Ismail Omar Guellehb. 1947FRPresident of Djibouti since 1999
• Ismail Haniyehb. 1962PSHamas leader (1962–2025)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Where does the name Ismael come from?

Ishmael (eldest son of Abraham) Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).

What are other forms of the name Ismael?

In the etymology graph, Samuel, Ismail and Sammy are forms of the same name in other languages.

Is Ismael a male or female name?

Ismael is a male name. National registers that list it by sex list it as male: Brazil (IBGE, 2022), Spain (INE), United States (Census Bureau, 2020) and France (INSEE, 2024), among others.

What does the name Ismael mean?

In Spanish, Ishmael (biblical character)

How do you pronounce Ismael?

It depends on the language: in Spanish /ismaˈel/ (Wiktionary); in English /ˈɪzmeɪ.əl/ (Wiktionary); in Portuguese /iz.maˈɛw/ (Wiktionary).

In which country does Ismael have the most bearers?

In Türkiye, the national register counted about 435 thousand people named Ismail, more than in any other country we hold.

How common is the name Ismael?

In Brazil, the national register counted 81,854 people named Ismael in 2022, about 1 in 2.6 thousand residents.

How common is Ismael compared with other names?

In Türkiye, Ismael is the 13th most common given name of 264,080 given names recorded there.