Israel

Israel is a name that wrestles. In Genesis, the patriarch Jacob receives the name after an all-night struggle with a mysterious figure at the ford of the Jabbok — the Hebrew Yisra'el traditionally read as "one who wrestles with God" or "God contends." The name became the designation of a people, then a modern state, and has been carried quietly in Christian, Jewish, and Latin American naming for centuries, particularly strong in Spanish-speaking families. Israel currently sits at 279 in the United States. Three open syllables, soft sibilant center, long drawn-out final vowel. Biblical weight without the dust — a name with its own ongoing argument.