Moises
Meaning
“Spanish and Portuguese form of Moses; 'drawn from the water' in the Bible's telling, though scholars favor Egyptian mes, 'son'”
The story
Moises, written Moisés at home, is the Spanish and Portuguese form of Moses, and the etymology carries an honest argument: the Old Testament reads the name as "drew out," pulled from the Nile, while scholars now favor the Egyptian mes, "son," which would make the Bible's greatest liberator a name of the country he left. Brazil treats the name as standing equipment: 143,542 residents in the 2022 census, ranked 236, spread with remarkable evenness: between 16,000 and 25,000 living residents born in each decade from the 1960s through the 2010s. Every Brazilian generation gets its Moisés. The American register tells a different shape, a steady climb from 892 in the 1960s to 5,892 in the 1990s and 8,395 in the 2000s. A name that has meant deliverance in two languages for three thousand years, and still opens on a basket in the reeds.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Moises peaked in the 2000s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
Popularity in Brazil
143,542 people · the #236 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,414 · median age 32
Among people named Moises living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 10,043 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Moises
Most people given the name Moises in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Moises deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Moises truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Moises fits with your family’s names and surname.
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