Ze'ev

Ze'ev — זאב — is the Hebrew word for wolf, a name with ancient roots that gained its modern life through Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the Russian-born writer, orator, and Zionist leader whose ideas shaped revisionist politics in the early twentieth century. Before him the biblical Benjamin was blessed by his father as a ravenous wolf, tying the animal to a tribal lineage. Pronounced with the glottal catch between two open vowels, the name lands as one breathed syllable in Hebrew, two when softened in English. Used widely in Israel. Ze'ev feels lean and alert, a name with teeth and watchfulness, plainspoken in the way old Hebrew names often are.