Moses - Meaning of Moses

What does Moses mean?

[ 2 syll. mo-ses, mos-es ] The baby boy name Moses is pronounced in English as MOWZ-ahS †. Moses is an English and German name of Egyptian origin. An original form of the name is Moshe (Hebrew). The name may have evolved via the Hebrew Moshel from the Egyptian 'mes' (meaning born of, child), of the same second element as the common Egyptian pharaoh names, Tutmosis and Rameses. In the case of the pharaoh names, the meaning is 'born of (a certain Egyptian god)', which may be similar in derivation to the name Moses. The name was borne in the Bible by Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and passed them the Ten Commandments given by God. The name has consequently been traditionally popular among Jews, who also use various English surnames beginning with 'M-', such as Mortimer, Morris, and Morton, as Anglicized forms of the name. The given name was first taken up by English Puritans in the 17th century.

Moses is a widely used name; it has 37 derivatives that are used in English and other languages. English derivatives of Moses include Mioshe, Mioshye, Moesen, Moeshe, Mohsen, Moise (used in French, Hebrew, and Italian too), Moke, Mosese, Moshe (used in Hebrew, Polish, and Yiddish too), Mosheh, Mosiah, Mosses, Moyses, and Musa (used in Arabic, Hebrew, and Turkish too). Other English variants include the contracted forms Mo, Moe, Mose (used in German, Hebrew, and Italian too), Moss, and Moy, and the familiar form Mosie.

Derivatives used in other languages include Maois (Irish), Moisei (Slavic), Moises (Portuguese, Spanish, and Yiddish), Moisey (Russian), Moisés (Spanish), Moishe (Hebrew and Yiddish), Moisis (Greek), Moisse (Russian), Moïse (French), Mosè (Italian), Mosya (Russian), Mosze (Polish), Moszek (Polish), Mousa (Arabic), Moze (Lithuanian), Mozes (Dutch, Hungarian, and Yiddish), and Mózes (Hungarian).

See also the related categories, pharaoh (king), god, puritans, english, element, biblical, hebrew, anglicized, german, and egyptian.

Moses is a classic favorite. Today it is still rather popular as a baby boy name, but to a lesser degree than it was in the past. In 1900, 0.072% of baby boys were named Moses. It was #181 in rank then. The baby name has experienced a decline in frequency since then, and is in recent times of modest use. In 2018, its usage was only 0.030% and its ranking #499, but it was nevertheless the 2nd most popular after Moises, among all boy names in its family. In 2018, it was 9.091% more regularly used than Moses.

Baby names that sound like Moses include Maacah, Maahes, Macai, Macbey, MacCoy, Maccoy, Maccus, Macey, Macèo, MacGee, MacGhee, Machas, Machau, Maci, Macie, Maciej, Maciek, Macías, MacKay, and Mackai.

† Pronunciation for Moses: M as in "me (M.IY)" ; OW as in "oak (OW.K)" ; Z as in "zoo (Z.UW)" ; AH as in "mud (M.AH.D)" ; S as in "see (S.IY)"

A famous person named Moses is Moses Maimonides, Philosopher, born Moshe ben Maimon 30 March 1138 - 13 December 1204, Cordoba, Spain.



Meaning of Moses Meaning of Moss Meaning of Mo Meaning of Moe Meaning of Mose Meaning of Moy Meaning of Mosie Meaning of Mosiah Meaning of Musa Meaning of Moshe Meaning of Moishe Meaning of Moise Meaning of Maurice Meaning of Morris Meaning of Moe Meaning of Elmo Meaning of Mosi Meaning of Mortimer Meaning of Morton
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