Variant spelling of Israel, Hebrew meaning he who wrestles with God, from Genesis.
Isreal is a variant spelling of Israel, one of the most resonant names in the Abrahamic traditions. The name derives from the Hebrew *Yisra'el*, which is most commonly interpreted as 'one who struggles with God' or 'God contends,' rooted in the verbs *sarah* (to strive, to contend) and *El* (God). Its biblical origin is among the most dramatic in scripture: in Genesis, the patriarch Jacob is renamed Israel after wrestling through the night with a divine being who cannot defeat him — a moment that becomes the founding mythological event of an entire people.
As a given name, Israel has been used continuously for centuries across Jewish, Christian, and Muslim communities, each tradition finding its own meaning in the patriarch's story. In early American history it was reasonably common among both Jewish immigrants and Protestant families who favored Old Testament names — a tradition particularly strong in Puritan New England and among the enslaved African American community, for whom the Exodus narrative held profound personal meaning. The variant spelling Isreal, while sometimes treated as a phonetic misspelling, has its own long history as a genuine given name, particularly in the American South.
Notable bearers include Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, the beloved Hawaiian musician whose 1990 medley of 'Over the Rainbow' and 'What a Wonderful World' became one of the most recognized recordings of the 20th century. The name today carries tremendous historical and spiritual weight — it is, at once, a personal name, a national name, and a theological statement about the human capacity for struggle and renewal.