Iov as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Iov

What is the meaning of the name Iov ?

The baby name Iov is a Male name , 1 syllables long and is pronounced Yov (IPA: /ˈjov/).

Iov is Hebrew in Origin.

Iov is the Romanian and Slavic liturgical form of Job, ultimately from Hebrew Iyov (אִיּוֹב). The meaning is uncertain, often glossed as “persecuted,” “hated,” or “enemy.” The name entered Eastern Christian usage via the Septuagint (Iob) and Church Slavonic, yielding Иов in Russian and Йов in Ukrainian and Bulgarian, commonly transliterated as Iov or Yov.

As a baptismal name, it spread across Orthodox lands and appears in records from medieval Rus’ to the Balkans. Notable bearers include Patriarch Iov of Moscow (16th–17th c.) and St Job (Iov) of Pochaiv, which helped preserve the name despite its association with suffering in the Book of Job. Variants include Job (English), Iyov (Hebrew), Iob (Greek/Latin), Jób (Hungarian, Czech, Slovak), Hiob (Polish, German), Ijob (German), Yov/Iov (Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Russian), and Ayyub (Arabic). Modern use is modest yet continuous in Romania and parts of Eastern Europe.

⚙ Iov is an extremely rare name. Across our dataset of national birth registries and international name records, Iov appears only 15 times in total — found in 8 countries. If you're considering it, you'd be giving your child a name almost nobody else has.