Barak (name)

Barak is a masculine name of Hebrew origin. It appears in the biblical Book of Judges as the name of the Israelite general Barak, who alongside Deborah led an attack against the forces of King Jabin of Hazor.

Etymology

The Semitic root B-R-Q has the meaning "to shine"; "lightning".
The biblical name ברק ' is given after Barak, a military commander who appears in the Book of Judges.
The Arabic cognate is بَرق '. The epithet Barca of the Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca is derived from the same root, as is the name of the Buraq, the miraculous steed of Muslim Mi'raj tradition.
Although the given name is mostly Jewish and found predominantly in Israel, it has occasionally been used by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants in the early modern period, when given names from the Hebrew Bible were in fashion, as in the name of Barak Longmate, an 18th-century English genealogist.