Judah (given name)
Judah is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin. It is the English form of Yehudah, the Hebrew name of the biblical figure Judah, founder of the Tribe of Judah and thus, the eponym of the Kingdom of Judah and the Jews.
Etymology
The Hebrew name for Judah, Yehuda, literally "thanksgiving" or "praise," is a variant form of the root Y-D-H, "to thank" or "to praise." His birth is recorded at Gen. 29:35; upon his birth, Leah exclaims, "This time I will praise the LORD/YHWH," with the Hebrew word for "I will praise," odeh sharing the same root as Yehuda. Alternatively, Edward Lipiński connected Hebrew yĕhūdā with Arabic whd / wahda "cleft, ravine". Jude is an English form of the name.Biblical and ancient historical figures
In chronological order:- Judah (son of Jacob), fourth son of the Biblical patriarch Jacob
- Judah Maccabee or Judas Maccabeus, Jewish priest who led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire
- Judas Iscariot, Hebrew Yehūḏā ʾĪš-Qǝrīyyōṯ, 'Judah, man of Kerioth', one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus
- Judah ha-Nasi, also Judah the Prince or Judah I, Jewish sage and leader
- Judah II, Jewish sage
- Judah III, Jewish sage
- Judah IV, Talmudic sage
- Judah b. Meremar, Babylonian sage
Saints
- Saint Jude (Thaddeus) the Apostle, one of Twelve,
- Saint Jude, brother of Jesus, one of Seventy-two,
- Saint Justus (Jude) of Jerusalem, third Bishop of Jerusalem,
- Saint Jude Barsabbas, prophet, Church leader,
- Saint Jude, one of Holy Maccabean Martyrs,
- Saint Jude Cyriacus, bishop of Ancona,
- Saint Jude Machabeus, priest and leader,
- Saint Jude, son of Jacob, Old Testament patriarch,
- Saint Jude, host of Saint Paul in Damascus,
People with the given name
Judah
In alphabetical order:- Judah P. Benjamin, politician and lawyer in the United States and Confederate States of America
- Judah Bergman aka "Jack Kid Berg", English world champion Hall of Fame junior welterweight boxer
- Judah Loew ben Bezalel or Rabbi Loew of Prague, the Maharal, Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic and philosopher
- Judah David Bleich, American rabbi and authority on Jewish law and ethics
- Judah Folkman, American cellular biologist, founder of the field of antiangiogenesis
- Judah Friedlander, American actor best known from 30 Rock
- Judah Grace, American person known for being born on twosday at 2:22 AM.
- Judah Halevi, medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet
- Judah Hertz, American real estate investor
- Judah Kirkham, American "Littleman" and heart transplant candidate
- Judah Lewis, American actor
- Judah Leon Magnes, rabbi, first President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Judah Nagler, singer, guitarist, and songwriter for indie-pop band The Velvet Teen
- "Judah son of Jesus", name on one of the ossuaries in the 1st-century Talpiot Tomb
Yehuda(h), Yehudi
In alphabetical order of their surname:- Yehuda Alharizi, medieval Spanish rabbi, translator, poet and traveller
- Yehuda Amichai, Israeli poet
- Yehuda Amital, dean of Yeshivat Har Etzion, former Israeli cabinet member
- Yehuda Atedji, Israeli Olympic windsurfer
- Yehuda Bauer, Czech-Israeli historian of the Holocaust
- Yehuda Zvi Blum, Slovak-born Israeli legal scholar and diplomat
- Yehuda Danon, Israeli doctor
- Yehuda Gilad (musician), contemporary clarinetist and conductor
- Yehuda Gilad (politician), Israeli rabbi and politician
- Yehudah Glick, American-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi, activist, and politician
- Yehuda Green, Shlomo Carlebach-inspired Hasidic singer, composer, and hazzan
- Yehuda Hayuth, Israeli professor of geography
- Yehudah Jacobs, American rabbi
- Yehuda Krinsky, Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic rabbi
- Yehuda Kurtzer, President of The Shalom Hartman Institute of North America
- Yehuda Edwin "Honest Ed" Mirvish, Canadian businessman, philanthropist, and impresario
- Yehuda Moraly, Israeli theater researcher, playwright, director, actor, and professor
- Yehuda Poliker, Israeli singer-songwriter
- Yehudi Menuhin, world-famous violinist
- Yehuda Tzadka, dean of Porat Yosef Yeshiva, Jerusalem
- Yehuda Wiener-Gafni, Israeli Olympic basketball player
- Yehuda Weisenstein, Israeli Olympic fencer
- Yehuda Zadok, Israeli Olympic runner
Fictional characters
- Judah Ben-Hur, main character of the 1880 Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ and film adaptations
- Judah Mannowdog, character in the TV show Bojack Horseman
- Judah Rosenthal, character in the film Crimes and Misdemeanors played by Martin Landau
- Judah, character in Weeds (TV series) played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan