MEANING & HISTORY
What does Moses mean?
Moses is the familiar English form of the biblical Hebrew Moshe, transmitted through Greek and Latin. A leading explanation connects the name with an Egyptian element meaning son or being born.
The biblical story instead links it with drawing the child out of the water, producing the traditional “drawn out” explanation. These are different kinds of account: a proposed historical origin and the interpretation supplied by the narrative. Both deserve to be visible, rather than silently choosing one as certain.
Moses, Moshe and Moisés are related forms with separate language histories and exact spellings.
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
English
- /ˈməʊzɪz/Received-Pronunciation
- /-zɪs/Received-Pronunciation
- /ˈmoʊzəs/General-American
- /-zəz/General-American
Mos · es2 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
From Latin Mōsēs, from Ancient Greek Μωσῆς (Mōsês), from earlier Μωυσῆς (Mōusês), from Biblical Hebrew מֹשֶׁה (mōšê). Further etymology is unclear, but it is sometimes conjectured to derive from Egyptian ms-s (msj, “to give birth to”), a common element in Egyptian names of the form ‘[name of deity] is the one who bore him’; or, alternatively, contains Egyptian N35A (mw, “water”).
A male given name from Hebrew.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Moses in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Moses
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Moises♂Form of Moses; Egyptian origin and biblical wordplay differ
- Kisses♀From English kisses, plural of kiss
- Modesta·Modest or moderate, feminine of Modestus
- Modesto♂Modest, restrained or moderate
- Moira♀English form of Irish Máire
- Mona♀Irish noble-name form; also short for Monica
- Morris♂Medieval form of Maurice
- Monica♀Name of Saint Augustine’s mother
What rhymes with Moses?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Explore Moses further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wiktionary contributors — Moses (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — moses (opens in a new tab)
Probable Egyptian son derivation versus biblical Hebrew drew-out explanation. Consulted editorial entry, not user-submitted content.
- R. Le Get and S. L. Uckelman — Moses, DMNES (opens in a new tab)
Documents traditional Hebrew draw-out account and historical name forms; compared with Egyptian-origin proposal.