Jephthah

JEFF-tha

Hebrew

"he opens"

Jephthah Origin and Meaning

The name Jephthah is a boy's name meaning "he opens".

The name of an important figure in the Book of Judges, a judge from Gilead who helped the Israelites defeat the hated Ammonites. Jephthah and its various derivative spellings have seldom been used as first names since Biblical times, but that may change going forward, thanks to Duck Dynasty castmember Jules Jeptha "Jep" Robertson.

There's also a Shakespearean connection: the Biblical story of Jephthah is discussed at some length in Act II of Hamlet.