Moshe
Masculine · Hebrew roots
Moshe is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 18,017 boys against 21 girls since 1880.
Moshe is the Hebrew name behind Moses — the same three consonants that have been read aloud in synagogues for well over two thousand years. It is two open syllables, MOH-sheh, ending on a soft breath rather than a hard stop. In the United States it stays close to the communities that kept the Hebrew form rather than the English one, strongest in New York, New Jersey and California, and it has been gaining ground rather than fading.
How old is the name Moshe?
Moshe first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Moshe alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 17,500 people named Moshe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Moshe most popular?
Moshe peaked in 2025, reaching #435 nationally. Today it ranks #435, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Moshe appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Mōšeh (Hebrew) to Moshe
The story of Moshe
Moshe is the Hebrew original, Mōšeh, of a name the rest of the world met in translation. The Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible rendered it Mōusēs, Latin made it Moyses, and English arrived at Moses — while Arabic took its own route to Mūsā, a prophet named repeatedly in the Qur'an. Jewish families kept the Hebrew form itself in continuous use for centuries; the twelfth-century philosopher and physician known as Maimonides signed himself Moshe ben Maimon. In Yiddish-speaking Europe the same name was said as Moyshe, and both spellings crossed to America, where Moshe is the form that has grown.
Meaningscholars disagree
"drawn out of the water" in the Hebrew reading; "born of, son of" in the Egyptian reading
The book of Exodus explains the name from the Hebrew verb mashah, to draw out, because the child was drawn from the Nile. Many scholars instead connect it to the Egyptian element msy, "is born" or "son of", the same piece found in pharaonic names like Thutmose and Ramesses. Both readings are serious and both are old; the name carries them together.
How the name formed
- MōšehHebrew
- MōusēsGreek
- MoysesLatin
- MosesEnglish
- Moshe
Related forms: Moses · Musa · Moyshe · Moisés · Mosè · Moisey
Pronouncing Moshe
MOH-sheh
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the final vowel sounded — not "mosh." Many American speakers say MOH-shuh. The Yiddish form, spelled Moyshe, begins MOY-, and people who grew up with that pronunciation may reach for it first.
Nicknames for Moshe
High
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1942
- Most boys named
- 2025728 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #435reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +9.1%728 in 2025, from 667
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Moshe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Moses in English — same name
- Musa in Arabic — same name
- Moyshe in Yiddish — spelling variant
- Moisés in Spanish — same name
- Mosè in Italian — same name
- Moisey in Russian — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, California.
Moshes among us
people named Moshe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,346 born in 2025 was named Moshe
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Blair test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Moshe's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Blair climbed just as high around 1953, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Blair's path sketches the road Moshe is walking now.
Moshe is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Moshe is headed
Moshe should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Moshe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Moshe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- An unbroken written record going back to the Hebrew Bible, with the same spelling used continuously in Jewish communities ever since.
- Recognized worldwide through its relatives: Moses in English, Musa in Arabic, Moisés in Spanish.
- Short and phonetic — five letters, two syllables, spelled the way it sounds once heard.
- Established short forms already in real use: Moish, Moishy, Mo.
- Rare enough in American schools that a child is unlikely to share it, while being instantly familiar as a name.
- The final vowel gets swallowed by English speakers who read it cold, producing "mosh" or MOH-shee. Most children with this name learn to correct it early, and the correction is a short one.
- Moshe reads unmistakably as Hebrew and as Jewish. Within the communities where it is common that is the point; outside them, it will be a marker wherever it goes.
- It shares its territory with Moses, Moishe and Moyshe, so relatives and paperwork may drift between spellings. Choosing one and sticking to it saves trouble later.
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What they receive
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Moshe
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #435 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Moshes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 17,500 people named Moshe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Moshe in 2025?
- Moshe ranks #435 among US boy names in 2025, with 728 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Moshe?
- About 1 in every 2,346 US boys born in 2025 was named Moshe — 728 in all.
- Will my child share the name Moshe with classmates?
- Moshe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Moshe
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Frederick#435 · Travis#434 · Malik#437 · Lewis#433 · Mario#438 · Raiden#432 · Jasai#439 · Sylas#440
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Moshe? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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