A poetic biblical Hebrew name meaning "upright one," used as a title for Israel.
Jeshurun is one of the rarest and most beautiful names in the Hebrew Bible — a poetic endearment for the nation of Israel that appears only four times in scripture, in Deuteronomy and Isaiah. It derives from the Hebrew root ישר (yashar), meaning "upright," "straight," or "just," and is typically translated as "the upright one" or "the dear upright people." When Moses, near death, sings his final blessing over Israel and calls them Jeshurun, there is a tenderness in the word that the more formal "Israel" lacks — it is the name a parent might use for a cherished child in a private moment.
The name's rarity is part of its power. While Jacob and Israel became the founding names of a nation, Jeshurun remained in the margins of scripture, known to scholars and devoted readers but never popularized. It carries a quality of deliberate archaism — choosing Jeshurun as a child's name is an act of deep textual engagement, a signal that the parents have read far enough into the Torah to find the words spoken only in the most intimate moments.
In contemporary naming, Jeshurun appears occasionally in families with strong roots in biblical tradition — Jewish and Christian communities where the Hebrew text is read in its original language. It is a name for a child imagined as inheriting something ancient and upright, called to embody the meaning of their name. Few names carry this combination of obscurity and weight.