Enoch
Meaning of Enoch
Deriving from the Hebrew Ḥănōkh, commonly glossed as “dedicated” or “initiated,” Enoch carries a venerable pedigree that reaches back to the earliest strata of Judeo-Christian tradition; in Genesis the name designates both a son of Cain, who lent his name to the first recorded city, and, more prominently, the seventh patriarch from Adam who “walked with God” and, according to later apocryphal literature, was translated to heaven without tasting death—an episode that has afforded the name enduring associations with devotion, mystery, and transcendence. In English usage, pronounced EE-nək, the designation migrated to the British Isles through ecclesiastical Latin and quickly embedded itself in Puritan naming culture, thereafter accompanying Anglo-American settlers across the Atlantic. United States birth records reveal a long arc of popularity: Enoch hovered within the national top 200 during the late nineteenth century, receded steadily through the mid-twentieth, and has, since the turn of the millennium, mounted a quiet revival, maintaining roughly 300–380 annual registrations and a rank in the upper 500s. Consequently, the name today offers parents a scholarly, antique resonance balanced by its rarity, evoking a figure whose very narrative—dedication culminating in ascent—suggests both steadfastness and the possibility of uncommon achievement.
Pronunciation
English
- Pronunced as EE-nuhk (/ˈiːnək/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Enoch
| John Enoch Powell was a British politician, scholar, and writer who served as an MP, Minister of Health, and Shadow Secretary of State for Defence. |
| Enoch Adejare Adeboye is a Nigerian pastor serving as the General Overseer of The Redeemed Christian Church of God and previously as the second national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria. |
| Nigerian sprinter Enoch Obaloluwa Adegoke is the 2019 African U20 champion and a 100m finalist at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games. |
| Enoch Albert Bryan served as president of Vincennes University from 1883 to 1893 and then as the first long-term president of Washington State University from 1893 to 1915. |
| Enoch Marvin Banks, an American historian and professor, was forced to resign in 1911 after publishing an article that blamed slavery for the Civil War and criticized the Confederacy. |
| Enoch Teye Mensah - Ghanaian politician E. T. Mensah served as a Member of Parliament and held ministerial positions under presidents Jerry Rawlings and John Atta Mills. |
| Convicted of high treason in British North America, Enoch Moore had his death sentence commuted to exile and parole before returning to die in the United States. |
| Enoch Mankayi Sontonga composed the hymn "Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika," which became part of South Africa's national anthem and was adopted by several other African countries. |
| Enoch Callaway - Enoch "Noch" Callaway III was an American psychiatrist who pioneered biological psychiatry. |
| Enoch DeMar is a former NFL offensive lineman who played for the Cleveland Browns after his college career at Indiana. |
| Enoch Greenleafe Parrott was an American naval officer who fought in the Mexican-American War and Civil War, rising to rear admiral. |
| Enoch Salisbury - Enoch Robert Gibbon Salisbury was a Welsh barrister, author, and politician. |
| Enoch Heinrich Kisch was an Austrian balneologist and gynecologist born in Prague, and the brother of noted rabbi and author Alexander Kisch. |
| Enoch Foster served as a justice on Maine's Supreme Judicial Court. |
| Enoch Tranter was an English cricketer active in the mid-1870s, a left-handed batsman and left-arm roundarm fast bowler who made three first-class appearances. |
