Jael

Jael is the English spelling of the same Hebrew name rendered Yael elsewhere, belonging to the woman in the Book of Judges who turns the tide of a war with a hammer and a tent peg. The word itself means mountain goat, an animal prized in the ancient Near East for surefootedness on steep ground. The J pronunciation gives it a harder American edge than Yael's softer opening. At 1470 and unisex in current use, it's brief and biblical, a single syllable that ends on an open l. Jael reads ancient and a little fierce, a name that does not flinch.