Neftali is a variant of Naphtali, a Hebrew biblical name meaning my struggle or wrestling.
Neftali is the Spanish and Portuguese rendering of Naphtali, one of the twelve sons of Jacob and therefore one of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel. In Biblical Hebrew, Naftali (נַפְתָּלִי) is interpreted as meaning "my wrestling" or "my struggle," derived from the root pathal, meaning to twist or wrestle. The name commemorates a pivotal moment in the Book of Genesis when Rachel, Jacob's beloved but long-barren wife, exclaimed upon the birth of her handmaid's son: "With mighty wrestlings I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed."
It is a name born in triumph over hardship. The tribe of Naphtali occupied the fertile northern region of ancient Canaan, around the Sea of Galilee, a territory later celebrated in the Book of Isaiah for its eventual deliverance. The Blessing of Moses in Deuteronomy describes Naphtali as one "satisfied with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord."
This combination of struggle and ultimate blessing gives the name a particular spiritual resonance that has carried through millennia. Neftali achieved perhaps its most famous literary manifestation in the birth name of Pablo Neruda — the towering Chilean poet and Nobel laureate. Born Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto in 1904, he adopted the pen name Neruda as a teenager, but the name Neftali threads through his biography like a hidden poem. In contemporary Latin American and Sephardic Jewish communities, Neftali remains in quiet, dignified use, carrying both Biblical gravitas and a lyrical, rolling sound that feels at home in Spanish-speaking cultures.