Moses

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled 모세 in KR South Korea.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Moses is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name72K records spelled Moses15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Philippines, Nigeria

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Mosés, Mosès, Mòses, Móses, Mösës

• a separate given name25K records spelled Moses4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, Zambia, Nigeria

  Also written Mošes, Mosés, Mosès

• a separate given name15K records spelled Moses2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Nigeria, United States, South Africa, Tanzania

  Also written Mösës

• Indonesian given name10K records spelled Moses4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Nigeria, Malaysia, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Möŝëŝ, Möses

• French given name9.9K records spelled Moses9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, South Africa, Nigeria

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Mosès, Mosës, Möses, Mösęs, Mósès

83 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Moses is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• The Bible provides a folk etymology from the Hebrew verb 'mashah' (to draw out), signifying he was 'drawn out of the water.' Modern scholarship generally attributes the name to the Egyptian root 'msy' (child of/born), common in names like Thutmose or Ramesses.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• A timeless name of Hebrew and Egyptian origin implying leadership, deliverance, and humility.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• In English, Egyptian/Hebrew; probably 'born of'; biblical leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt

  as a name·Baby names, 25,350 baby names nicknames for your family, friends pets, including the top 100 names, 2,000 most popular…

• Biblical/Hebrew or Egyptian: 'saved from water' or 'child, son'.

  as a name·African Names

• In German, from Hebr. Moscheh; probably Egyptian 'son'

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Al-Hadib. 761IQnot in their usual nameArab Abbasid Caliph (r. 785-786)
• Moses Mendelssohnb. 1729DEGerman-Jewish philosopher and theologian (1729–1786)
• Marc Chagallb. 1887FRnot in their usual nameBelarusian-French artist (1887–1985)
• Moïse Kislingb. 1891PLnot in their usual namePolish-French artist (1891-1953)
• Moisei Ginzburgb. 1892RUnot in their usual nameRussian architect, Soviet writer (1892–1946)
• Joseph Rothb. 1894ATnot in their usual nameAustrian novelist and journalist (1894–1939)
• Moses Nagamootoob. 1947GYGuyanese politician and novelist
• Moses Maloneb. 1955USAmerican basketball player (1955–2015)
• Moses Ingramb. 1994USAmerican actress
• Bukayo Sakab. 2001GBnot in their usual nameEnglish footballer (born 2001)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 659 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Moses?

We estimate roughly 30 thousand people bear Moses (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Moses have the most bearers?

Moses is most frequently recorded in Nigeria, where it is most often spelled moses.

How common is Moses compared with other names?

In Nigeria, Moses is the 47th most common given name of 146,224 given names recorded there.

Is Moses a male or female name?

Moses is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Moses mean?

Recorded meaning: from the biblical Hebrew prophet’s name Moshe, probably of Egyptian origin