Ishbosheth as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Ishbosheth

What is the meaning of the name Ishbosheth ?

The baby name Ishbosheth is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced Anglicized: ISH‑BOH‑sheth (IPA: /ɪʃˈboʊʃɛθ/). Hebrew: ʼĪš‑Bōšet (IPA: /iʃ.bo.ʃet/)..

Ishbosheth is Hebrew in Origin.

Ishbosheth is a Hebrew biblical name (’Ish-boshet, אִישׁ־בֹּשֶׁת) built from ’ish “man” and boshet “shame/disgrace.” In the Books of Samuel he appears under this euphemistic form, while 1 Chronicles preserves the earlier theophoric Eshbaal (’Esh-ba‘al, אֶשְׁבַּעַל), “man of Baal/Lord.” Later scribes often replaced ba‘al in personal names with boshet to avoid the Canaanite deity’s name, so the two forms denote the same person; the underlying sense is “man of the lord,” though the received spelling reads literally “man of shame.”

As the son of King Saul and rival monarch to David, Ishbosheth ruled briefly over Israel before being assassinated (2 Samuel 2–4), giving the name a literary-historical aura of contested kingship. Usage today is exceedingly rare and largely confined to religious or academic contexts. Variants and spellings include Ish-bosheth, Ishboshet, Isboset/Isboseth (Vulgate and Spanish Bibles), and Eshbaal/Esh-baal as the alternative biblical form; related patterns appear in names like Jerubbaal/Jerubbesheth.

⚙ Ishbosheth does not appear in any of the birth registries or name datasets we track. This usually means it's either extremely rare, a regional/traditional name not captured by official statistics, or a brand-new coinage. Use it knowing your child will almost certainly be the only one in the room.