Barak (given name)

For other uses, see Barak (disambiguation).

Not to be confused with Barack (disambiguation).

"B-R-Q" redirects here. For other uses, see BRQ.

The given name Barak, also spelled Baraq, from the root B-R-Q, is a Hebrew name meaning "lightning". It is a Biblical name, given after the Israelite general Barak (ברק Bārāq).

B-R-Q

Not to be confused with B-R-K.

The Semitic root B-R-Q has the meaning "to shine"; "lightning". The Hebrew name ברק Bārāq is biblical, given after Barak, a military commander in the Book of Judges.

The Arabic word for "lightning" is Arabic: بُراق‎‎ burāq. The epithet Barcas of the Punic general Hamilcar is from the same root, as is the name of Al-Buraq, the miraculous steed of Islamic mythology.

The given name is mostly Jewish, and predominantly found in Israel. However, it has occasionally been used by Anglo-Saxon protestants in the early modern period, when there was a fashion for given names from the Hebrew Bible, as in the name of Barak Longmate, an 18th-century English genealogist.

People with the name

Notable people with the name include:

• Barak Norman (c.1670–c.1740), English musical instrument maker
• Barak Longmate (1738-1793), English genealogist and engraver
• Ehud Barak (born 1942), Israeli former prime minister
• Barak Sopé (born 1955), Vanuatu politician
• Barak Badash (born 1982), Israeli football player
• Barak Yitzhaki (born 1984), Israeli football player
• Barak Bakhar (born 1979), Israeli football player
• Barak Moshe (born 1991), Israeli football player

See also

• Barack (disambiguation)
• Barak (surname)
• Barak (disambiguation)
• Burak (disambiguation)
• Barakah
• Baraka (disambiguation)
• Baruch (given name)
• Barak
• Barcas
• Mubarak (name)
• All pages beginning with "Barak"