Ancient Hebrew names were used by the Israelites. The Old Testament contains hundreds of examples of such names.

Most were derived from Classical Hebrew words and phrases. Names which were adapted from phrases include Michael "who is like God?", Daniel "God is my judge" and Abigail "my father is joy". Common elements in Hebrew names include -el (as in Raphael, Gabriel) and jo-, -iah (as in Jonathan, Jeremiah, Joel) which both refer to the Hebrew God.