[Update: The lists for 2015, 2016, 2017-2018, and 2019 are now available.]
Since my earlier posts on the most popular Israeli girls and boys baby names broken down by city, the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) has released the overall popularity of names broken down by religion. The following table shows the 101 most popular Jewish girls names in Israel for the year 2014.
As with the previous posts, I’ve added English versions of all the names. In some cases I’ve used the most-common English version. In some cases I’ve added a transliteration of the Hebrew name with the English version, when both versions might be used. Some names might seem like boy’s names, such as Daniel, but in Israel are considered unisex. With Hebrew names that don’t exist in English, I’ve tried to give the best English transliteration I could considering both the pronunciation and what the name would be spelled like in English.
Since the CBS files don’t include nikudot (vowels) in the original Hebrew, some names may overlap that have the same letters, but are pronounced differently. In that case I’ve generally left out the nikudot from the Hebrew and put both versions in the English.
The table below is sortable by column, so you can easily sort by Hebrew name or English name, or then re-sort it by overall rank. The number of babies given each name is also shown.
| Rank | Name (Hebrew) | Name (English) | Number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | נוֹעָה | Noa | 1478 |
| 2 | תָּמָר | Tamar | 1381 |
| 3 | שִׁירָה | Shira | 1201 |
| 4 | מַאיָה | Maya | 1200 |
| 5 | יָעֵל | Yael | 1135 |
| 6 | אַדֶל | Adele | 1096 |
| 7 | טַלְיָה | Talia | 1063 |
| 8 | אֲבִיגַיִל | Abigail | 1039 |
| 9 | איילה | Ayala | 932 |
| 10 | שָׂרָה | Sarah | 863 |
| 11 | אֶסְתֵּר | Esther | 768 |
| 12 | נוֹיָה | Noya | 764 |
| 13 | מִיכַל | Michal | 753 |
| 14 | חַנָּה | Chana (Hanna) | 719 |
| 15 | אֵלָה | Elah | 709 |
| 16 | לִיָה | Lia | 706 |
| 17 | רוֹמִי | Romi | 704 |
| 18 | רִבְקָה | Rivka (Rebecca) | 687 |
| 19 | רוֹנִי | Roni | 657 |
| 20 | רָחֵל | Rachel | 642 |
| 21 | הוֹדָיָה | Hodaya | 630 |
| 22 | עַלְמָה | Alma | 619 |
| 23 | אֲגַם | Agam | 611 |
| 24 | יוּבַל | Yuval | 574 |
| 25 | תָּהֶל | Tahal | 557 |
| 26 | מִרְיָם | Miriam | 555 |
| 27 | חַיָּה | Chaya | 544 |
| 28 | עֲדִי | Adi | 540 |
| 29 | אֲרִיאֵל | Ariel | 526 |
| 30 | הִילָּה | Hila | 520 |
| 31 | לִיאַן | Lian/Leanne | 517 |
| 32 | נָעֳמִי | Naomi | 508 |
| 33 | רוּת | Ruth | 504 |
| 34 | נֹגַהּ | Noga | 502 |
| 35 | אֵמָה | Emma | 472 |
| 36 | מַעֲיָין | Maayan | 462 |
| 37 | הלל | Hallel | 413 |
| 38 | הָדָר | Hadar | 411 |
| 39 | גַּאיָה | Gaia | 401 |
| 40 | אֶפְרָת | Efrat | 398 |
| 41 | לֵאָה | Leah | 393 |
| 42 | תְּהִילָּה | Tehila | 388 |
| 43 | נוֹעַם | Noam | 381 |
| 44 | אוֹר | Or | 377 |
| 45 | נטע | Neta | 377 |
| 46 | מִיקָה | Mika | 370 |
| 47 | הֲדַסָּה | Hadassa | 368 |
| 48 | נַעֲמָה | Naama | 358 |
| 49 | עָמִית | Amit | 354 |
| 50 | אוריה | Uria/Oria | 349 |
| 51 | עופרי | Ofri | 348 |
| 52 | אמילי | Emily | 333 |
| 53 | טוֹהָר | Tohar | 329 |
| 54 | אורי | Uri/Ori | 328 |
| 55 | יָהֵלִי | Yaheli | 328 |
| 56 | יְהוּדִית | Yehudit (Judith) | 325 |
| 57 | הֲדַס | Hadas | 321 |
| 58 | אוֹפִיר | Ophir | 319 |
| 59 | שָׁקֵד | Shaked | 308 |
| 60 | שִׁיר | Shir | 306 |
| 61 | מַלְכָּה | Malka | 300 |
| 62 | לִיבִּי | Libi | 297 |
| 63 | לִיאֵל | Liel | 287 |
| 64 | דָּנִיֵּאל | Daniel | 287 |
| 65 | מוֹרִיָּה | Moriah | 287 |
| 66 | עֵדֶן | Eden | 284 |
| 67 | אֲבִישַׁג | Avishag | 283 |
| 68 | אֱלִישֶׁבַע | Elisheva (Elizabeth) | 266 |
| 69 | אָלִין | Aleen | 262 |
| 70 | שָׁנִי | Shani | 252 |
| 71 | אַלְיָה | Aliya | 251 |
| 72 | גֶּפֶן | Gefen | 247 |
| 73 | גִּילִי | Gili | 244 |
| 74 | דְּבוֹרָה | Dvora (Deborah) | 239 |
| 75 | שַׁחַר | Shachar | 237 |
| 76 | אנאל | Anael | 233 |
| 77 | רוֹתֶם | Rotem | 223 |
| 78 | יַרְדֵּן | Yarden (Jordan) | 221 |
| 79 | נֶחָמָה | Nechama | 219 |
| 80 | לִיאוֹר | Lior | 219 |
| 81 | אוֹדֶל | Odele | 217 |
| 82 | בִּרָכָה | Bracha | 207 |
| 83 | מַאי | May | 206 |
| 84 | זוֹהַר | Zohar | 204 |
| 85 | שַׁי | Shai | 201 |
| 86 | אֲבִיָּה | Avia | 192 |
| 87 | אוֹרִין | Orin | 190 |
| 88 | אֲבִיטַל | Avital | 182 |
| 89 | בַּת שֶׁבַע | Batsheva | 181 |
| 90 | אַלְמָה | Alma | 180 |
| 91 | דָּנִיֵּאלָה | Daniella | 176 |
| 92 | שַׁי-לִי | Shaily | 176 |
| 93 | הִילִי | Hili | 176 |
| 94 | אָבִיב | Aviv | 171 |
| 95 | עוֹמֶר | Omer | 169 |
| 96 | שִּילָת | Shilat | 168 |
| 97 | חַוָּה | Chava | 162 |
| 98 | צִפּוֹרָה | Tziporah | 161 |
| 99 | יַעֲרָה | Yaara | 160 |
| 100 | אַלּוֹנָה | Alona | 159 |
| 101 | כַּרְמֶל | Carmel | 157 |
What about the female name Bara. Is it used in Israel among Jews, Muslims or both?
How would you spell that name in Hebrew? For Jewish girls in 2015 (the latest year there is data for) I can find בר (ranked 102), באר (ranked 524), and בארי (ranked 291), but nothing specifically Bara. For Muslim girls there is בראאה (ranked 103) which might be Bara, although I’m not certain.
I live in Israel, never heard of the name Bara, it’s now a jewish name that’s for sure
The name Daniela is misspelled. Daniela is spelled with one L and not two LL
Both are acceptable spellings for the name. For example, Israeli actress Daniella Kertesz (https://twitter.com/daniellakertez1) or Israeli designer Daniella Lehavi (https://www.daniellalehavi.com).
In Israel, in the 80’s, I met two different girls called Nirit, but I can’t find that name in any list online!
I don’t have data going back until the 80’s, but I do see the name Nirit (נירית) in 2000 (13 girls), 2001 (5), 2003 (5), and 2004 (5). The name doesn’t show up after 2004. Note that the minimum in the data is 5, so if there were less than that in a given year, it wouldn’t show up in the record. It’s possible back in the 80s it was more popular. Actually, I have a different set of data that shows how many people had the name in the whole country back in the 1970s, and there were 888 people with that name at the time. So I guess it was more popular back then, and slowly tapered out.
Hey, I met this girl from israel and I can’t remember her name. I know it sounded like Donna but not quite Donna. It wasn’t Dana (as in Dana white). But it was something like that, I felt like it was a weird pronunciation of Donna. Something inbetween Donna and Dana. and no it wasn’t Dina. I have tried to try various ways to mispronounce Donna but nothing is ringing a bell. Any idea what it could have been?