Name of the Week

Lemuel has all the biblical charm and fluid
syllables of Samuel yet still remains 'under-the-radar'.

 

Origin:

Lemuel is from the Hebrew name לְמוֹאֵל (Lemo'el), composed of the elements לְמוֹ (lemo) and אֵל (el).  The last element 'el means "God" or "the Almighty" and is found in many Hebrew names such as Samuel, Daniel, Emmanuel, Abdiel, Ezekiel, Gabriel and Michael.  The first element, lemo, is a prepositional prefix meaning either at, for, to, upon or unto. Lemuel therefore means "unto God," though it is more common to find it translated as "belonging to God" or "devoted to God." It shares the same meaning as another Hebrew name: Lael.  Lemuel is only mentioned once in the Bible, as the king who recounts a very wise prophesy given to him by his mother in Proverbs 31: 2 O my son, O son of my womb,     O son of my vows, 3 do not waste your strength on women,     on those who ruin kings. 4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel, to guzzle wine.    Rulers should not crave alcohol. 5 For if they drink, they may forget the law    and not give justice to the oppressed. 6 Alcohol is for the dying,    and wine for those in bitter distress. 7 Let them drink to forget their poverty    and remember their troubles no more. 8 Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves;    ensure justice for those being crushed. 9 Yes, speak up for the poor and helpless,    and see that they get justice. Not much is known about this king. He is referred to in the proverb by the words massa melek ("king"). Massa translates as "oracle, prophesy" in Hebrew, but it is also the name of an Arabian kingdom mentioned briefly in Genesis 25:14. His title is therefore translated either as "King Lemuel of the oracle" or "King Lemuel of Massa." Some scholars believe that Lemuel "unto God" is a symbolic name, given to a ficticious 'ideal' king. Other scholars, both ancient and modern, have argued that Lemuel was infact an alternate name for Solomon — we certainly know that Jedidiah "beloved of Yah" was an epithet of his — and, though there is no direct evidence for it, this still the standard Jewish tradition. Hezekiah is also a proposed possibility for the mysterious King Lemuel.

Usage:

Lemuel first came into use in Britain in the 16th century and gradually increased in usage through the following two centuries, though was never especially common. The name also appeared in two prominent publications in the early 18th century: Moll Flanders (1722) by Daniel Defoe and Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift.  19th century census records show that usage of the name fluctuated between each decade: 1841: 276 males (E:187, W:88, S:1) 1851: 188 males (E:106, W:81, S:1) 1861: 205 males (E:142, W:61, S:2) 1871: 424 males (E:252, W:172) 1881: 314 males (E:177, W:137) 1891: 298 males (E:145, W:151, S:2) 1901: 629 males (E:312, W:315, S:1) (E=England, W=Wales, S=Scotland) As we can see, Lemuel was particularly notable in Wales during the 19th century. Given the small population size in 1881, for example — when there were 789,074 males in Wales compared with 11,850,749 in England — approximately 17 in every 100,000 males were called Lemuel in Wales, yet the figure was 1.5 in every 100,000 in England.  As Lemuel is the name of one of the sons of Lehi, and a brother of Nephi, in the Book of Mormon, one reason for its Welsh usage could be thanks to the popularity of Mormonism in Wales in the 1840s and 1850s, though many converts later immigrated to Utah. On the other hand, Old Testament names were much used in Wales during this period. A compilation of the Top 50 names in Glamorgan in 1851 includes Abraham, Ebenezer, Jeremiah, Moses, Elias, Job and Jonah.  The birth count remained fairly consistent in England and Wales from 1840 to 1900 (usually between 10 and 30 births per year) but gradually declined through the 20th century.  Since 1996, Lemuel has been outside of the Top 1000. Its highest point was in 2007 with 15 births (#1440) and the lowest was 1 birth in 1997. In 2012, Lemuel ranked #1756 with 13 births. The name is rare in Scotland: it did not rank at all from 2005-2008, had birth count of 1 in 2009, 2 in 2010 and 1 in 2011 but didn't rank in 2012.

Famous Bearers:

History:  * Lemuel Francis Abbott (c.1760–1802), English portrait painter. * Lemuel Haynes (1753–1833), African American religious leader and slavery opponent. Literature and Other Media: * Lemuel Gulliver, the protagonist of Jonathan Swift's novel Gulliver's Travels (1726). * Lemuel Golightly, a character in Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders (1722). * Lemuel Dorcas, a Marvel Comics character.

Variants:

Lemoel (Biblical variant)

Pronunciation:

LEM-yoo-əl, LEM-yəl [key]

Possible diminutives:

Lem, Mel

Sibling Names:

Damaris     Talitha     Sarai     Hadassah     Persis     Dinah  Matthias     Noam     Joah     Gideon    Eli     Zachariah

Name Lists:

Quirky Biblical Names

 

If you like Lemuel you may also like:   Simeon, Jeremiah, Reuel, Jamuel, Luther, Zebediah, Abram, Levi, Nahum, Silas

 

Thanks to Emily for requesting Lemuel.