Judah

Etymology

The Hebrew name for Judah, Yehuda (יהודה), literally "thanksgiving" or "praise," is a variant form of the root Y-D-H (ידה), "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 (אודה) 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 (167–160 BCE)

Judas Iscariot, Hebrew Yehūḏā ʾĪš-Qǝrīyyōṯ, 'Judah, man of Kerioth' (died c. AD 30), one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus

Judah ha-Nasi, also Judah the Prince or Judah I, Jewish sage and leader (2nd century)

Judah II, Jewish sage (3rd century)

Judah III, Jewish sage (3rd and 4th century)

Judah IV, Talmudic sage (4th century)

Judah b. Meremar, Babylonian sage (5th century?)

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 (1811–1884), politician and lawyer in the United States and Confederate States of America

Judah Bergman aka "Jack Kid Berg" (1909–1991), English world champion Hall of Fame junior welterweight boxer

Judah Loew ben Bezalel (1512-1526 – 1609) or Rabbi Loew of Prague, the Maharal, Talmudic scholar, Jewish mystic and philosopher

Judah David Bleich (born 1936), American rabbi and authority on Jewish law and ethics

Judah Folkman (1933–2008), American cellular biologist, founder of the field of antiangiogenesis

Judah Friedlander (born 1969), American actor best known from 30 Rock

Judah Halevi (1075–1141), medieval Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet

Judah Hertz (born 1948/49), American real estate investor

Judah Kirkham (born 2009), American "Littleman" and heart transplant candidate

Judah Lewis (born 2000 or 2001), American actor

Judah Leon Magnes (1877–1948), rabbi, first President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Judah Nagler (born 1980), 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 (mid-12th century – 1225), medieval Spanish rabbi, translator, poet and traveller

Yehuda Amichai (1924–2000), Israeli poet

Yehuda Amital (1924–2010), dean of Yeshivat Har Etzion, former Israeli cabinet member

Yehuda Atedji (born 1961), Israeli Olympic windsurfer

Yehuda Avidan (born 1962), Israeli official

Yehuda Bauer (1926–2024), Czech-Israeli historian of the Holocaust

Yehuda Zvi Blum (1931–2025), Slovak-born Israeli legal scholar and diplomat

Yehuda Danon (born 1940), Israeli doctor

Yehuda Gilad (musician), contemporary clarinetist and conductor

Yehuda Gilad (politician) (born 1955), Israeli rabbi and politician

Yehudah Glick (born 1965), American-born Israeli Orthodox rabbi, activist, and politician

Yehuda Green (born 1959), Shlomo Carlebach-inspired Hasidic singer, composer, and hazzan

Yehuda Hayuth (1946–2022), Israeli professor of geography

Yehudah Jacobs (c. 1940–2020), American rabbi

Yehuda Krinsky (born 1933), Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic rabbi

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