Moses
Meaning
drawn out of water
Goes by Mo
The story
Moses's roots and its Hong Kong life belong in the same story, but they are not the same thing. Moses is the English biblical form of Hebrew Moshe. Exodus connects it with being drawn from water, while scholars have also proposed an Egyptian route, so the deeper origin remains debated. Actor Moses Chan shows how naturally the biblical English name lives in Hong Kong. That use does not make the name etymologically Cantonese. It shows how a Hong Kong family may carry a character-based Chinese name and an English or international name for school, work, or life across languages. The US curve is one of this set's few clear risers, strengthening in the 2000s through the 2020s. A public bearer can make a name feel familiar without proving why any family chose it, so the cultural example and the chart should not be confused. Moses can therefore carry scripture, a disputed ancient etymology, modern American revival, and Hong Kong English use without any one layer erasing the others.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Moses peaked in the 2020s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
347 people · the #17,228 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 500,000 · median age 36
Among people named Moses living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1970s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 24 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
The Moses deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Moses 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 Moses fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Moses fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Moses to your family’s tree →