Joel on BabyNamer: Baby Names and Meanings

Joel

Meaning: Its source is Yoel, a Hebrew name meaning "Yaweh is God."

In French, this name is spelled with an accent -- Joël.

Origin: "Yoel."

Languages: This boy's name is used in English and French.

Nicknames: Joe, Joey and Jo

Variant Forms: Jowell

Feminine Forms: Joelle

Source Forms: Yoel

Popularity: The name Joel ranked 116th in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 133rd in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

This name was popular earlier in the 20th century, then fell off in usage, but has begun making a comeback in recent years.

Narrative: The four letters ''Y H W H'' (in their Hebrew forms) were used in the Jewish scriptures to represent the name of God, which was not allowed to be written, and was only to be uttered by priests at prescribed times during worship in the temple.

This ''Tetragrammaton,'' as it came to be called (from the Greek word for four, tetra), was often read as Adonai (lord). In time it came to be pronounced ''Yaweh,'' which is what scholars believe to be close to the original pronunciation.

The name is never pronounced by Jews who believe that the precise pronunciation of the tetragrammaton was lost. They continue to substitute the word ''Adonai,'' meaning my ''Lord'' or ''Master'' for it, until such a time as the lost information is rediscovered, presumably in the time of the rebuilding of the Temple.

As Yoel is based on the Tetragrammaton, it could be read as ''God is God,'' an affirmation that the God of the Jewish scriptures is the one and only God.