Itzhak
A Hebrew masculine name meaning "he will laugh" or "God shall laugh".
Name Census estimates that about 45 living Americans carry the first name Itzhak. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Itzhak today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Itzhak births was 2011 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Itzhak. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Itzhak. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
45
~ 1 in 7,616,763 Americans
Peak year
2011
7 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,869
Tracked since 1996
Popularity
Itzhak: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Itzhak from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 19 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Itzhak by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Itzhak during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Itzhak
Itzhak is a Hebrew given name derived from the biblical figure Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah. It is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Yitzchak, which means "he will laugh" or "he will rejoice." The name has its origins in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis.
The name Itzhak first appears in the Hebrew Bible, where it is the name given to the son of Abraham and Sarah. According to the biblical account, Sarah laughed in disbelief when told by divine messengers that she would bear a son in her old age. The name Itzhak is thus a reference to this laughter of joy and surprise.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Itzhak is found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. The Talmud mentions several individuals with the name, including Itzhak ben Pinchas, a prominent Talmudic sage who lived in the 8th century CE.
Throughout history, there have been many notable individuals named Itzhak. One of the most famous was Itzhak Perlman, the renowned Israeli-American violinist and conductor born in 1945. Perlman is widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century and has won numerous awards and accolades for his performances.
Another notable figure was Itzhak Stern, a Polish Jewish industrialist and Holocaust survivor born in 1901. Stern played a crucial role in helping to save the lives of many Jews during World War II by employing them in his factory, which was part of the Nazi's forced labor program.
Itzhak Rabin, an Israeli politician and military leader born in 1922, was another prominent individual with this name. Rabin served as the Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 to 1977 and again from 1992 until his assassination in 1995. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994 for his efforts in the Oslo Accords.
Itzhak Bentov, an Israeli-American scientist and inventor born in 1923, was known for his work in the fields of biomechanics and consciousness studies. He developed novel theories and inventions related to the interconnectedness of the human body, mind, and consciousness.
Itzhak Perlman, the renowned violinist, is often cited as one of the most famous individuals with the name Itzhak in modern times. However, the name has a rich historical legacy spanning centuries, rooted in the biblical narrative and carried forward by numerous notable figures throughout the ages.
People
Itzhak + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Itzhak as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with I
Other first names starting with I with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Itzhak: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Itzhak?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 45 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Itzhak going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 7,616,763 US residents.
Is Itzhak a common name?
We classify Itzhak as "Very Rare". It ranks above 52.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 45 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Itzhak most popular?
The single biggest year for Itzhak was 2011, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Itzhak is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Itzhak a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Itzhak in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.