Gideon

Hebrew

"hewer; or, having a stump for a hand"

Gideon Origin and Meaning

The name Gideon is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "hewer; or, having a stump for a hand".

Gideon is a no-longer neglected Old Testament name, but still makes an excellent choice for parents looking to move beyond such overused biblicals as Benjamin and Jacob. In the Old Testament, Gideon was a judge called on by God to rescue the Jews from the Midianites, and the name was popular among the Puritans.

Gideon was given a spike by the short-lived TV series Gideon's Crossing, and has been heard more recently as a main character in Criminal Minds, as Molly Weasley's brother Gideon Prewett in the Harry Potter series, and as an anti-hero, Gideon Gordon Graves, in the Scott Pilgrim series.

The ubiquitous, in-every-hotel-room Gideon bibles were named because Gideon symbolizes great work done by few people.

Among the celebs who have chosen Gideon for their sons are Neil Patrick Harris and Ziggy Marley.

Gideon Rank in US Top 1000

# 318 in the US

Gideon Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 141 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Gideon

• 318 US 2023
• 141 Nameberry 2025
• 195 Future 2028
• 861 England 2023

20 Names Similar to Gideon

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Gideon.

• Abel
• Reuben
• Tobias
• Phineas
• Amos
• Desmond
• Malcolm
• Julian
• Cedric
• Thaddeus
• Leon
• Augustus
• Edwin
• Vincent
• Samson
• Alastair
• Simon
• Benedict
• Conrad
• Lawrence

Famous People Named Gideon

• Gideon Biblical judge
• Gideon Emery British actor
• Gideon Yago American MTV news anchor and writer
• Gideon Lee Yu American businessman and football team owner
• Gideon Hausner Israeli jurist and politician
• Gideon Ariel Israeli biomechanic and athlete
• Gideon Levy Israeli journalist and author
• Gideon Baah Ghanaian footballer
• Gideon Gardner U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts
• Gideon Barstow U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts
• Gideon Welles 24th U.S. Secretary of the Navy
• Gideon Lee U.S. Congressman from New York; 60th Mayor of New York City
• Gideon Coe British radio personality
• Gideon Algernon Mantell English paleontologist who discovered Iguanadon
• Gideon Babe Ruth Howard son of actors Debra Winger and Arliss Howard
• Gideon Scott Burtka Harris (b. 2010), son of actors Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka; twin of sister Harper Grace
• Clarence Gideon criminal defendant whose appeal led to Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright
• Gideon Martyn Forsyth (b. 2018) son of Joy,Anna (Duggar) and Austin Forsyth from "Counting On"
• Gideon Aroni actor
• Gideon Adlon actress and daughter of Pamela Adlon

The name Gideon in Pop Culture

• Gideon Prewett character in the Harry Potter series; brother to Molly Weasley
• Gideon Pontipee character in musical "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
• Gideon Lightwood character in Cassandra Clare's "The Infernal Devices" trilogy
• Gideon Reader character in the Shapeshifter series
• Gideon character in "Will Grayson, Will Grayson' by John Green and David Levithan
• Gideon Gleeful character on Disney's animated series "Gravity Falls"
• Gideon Cahill ancestor of the Cahill family in the 39 Clues series
• Gideon Seymour character in The Time Travelers/Gideon the Cutpurse
• Gideon mutant in X,Men comics
• Gideon character on TV's "Charmed"
• Gideon duck in British animated series "Gideon"
• Gideon Oliver Dobbs main character in 1998 film "Gideon"
• Gideon Cross aka The Demon Hunter comics character
• Gideon captain of the guard for King Limhi in the Book of Mormon
• Gideon Cross main character in Sylvia Day's Crossfire series
• Gideon female AI on TV's "The Flash" and "Legends of Tomorrow"
• Gideon Grey character in Disney's "Zootopia"
• Gideon de Villiers character in the German Ruby Red novel trilogy by Kerstin Gier
• Gideon Reeves character on TV's "APB"
• Jason Gideon character on TV's 'Criminal Minds'
• Ben Gideon main character on TV's "Gideon's Crossing"
• Abel Gideon character on TV's "Hannibal"
• George Gideon of Scotland Yard character in novels by John Creasey
• Gideon (bibles) mentioned in the Beatles song "Rocky Raccoon"
• Gideon Altaire character in James Gurney's series "Dinotopia"
• Gideon Graves main villain of the Scott Pilgrim comics/movie
• Gideon Gemstone character on TV’s “The Righteous Gemstones”

International Variations of the name Gideon

• Gideone Italian
• Gedeon Russian
• Hedeon Russian
• Hadeon Ukrainian
• Gidon Hebrew