Strongs # 03478 means "God prevails"  (Old Testament Hebrew)

From a Hebrew baby name website, I found an interesting entry that began with this:

ISRAEL is from the Hebrew YISRAEL, meaning PRINCE OF GOD or TO CONTEND, TO FIGHT or TO RULE (Kolatch, Alfred J. 1984. The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names. Middle Village: Jonathan David. 251, 255).
ISRAEL is derived from the words SARA meaning TO STRUGGLE, STRIVE, CONTEND, WRESTLE and EL meaning GOD.
ISRAEL - GOD WRESTLER.

You can find the rest of the entry (pretty extensive) at this link.

Thanks for making me look.  Very interesting!

Dave, I've seen shorter. :-)

From the American Heritage dictionary:

from Hebrew yiśrā'ēl, God has striven, God has saved : yiśrā, he has striven, saved; see śry in Semitic roots + 'ēl, God; see l in Semitic roots.


Jacob received this name after his night wrestling match - his striving with God.

Israel was the name given to Jacob after "winning" a wrestling match with GOD.   

Genesis 32

27 [The Man] asked him, What is your name? And [in shock of realization, whispering] he said, Jacob [supplanter, schemer, trickster, swindler]!

   
28 And He said, Your name shall be called no more Jacob [supplanter], but Israel [contender with God]; for you have contended and have power with God and with men and have prevailed.

Jacob had always been so proud of his name before and certainly lived up to it. But as he struggled thru the night with GOD and day broke came the realization that he had been fighting One who had been fighting for him not against him. Jacob had to know the name of Him who had struggled with him. He never got an answer. But he did get a new name and spent the rest of his life living up to it.

I've written about what "actually happened" that night. But it is long and this is a short blog so another time, perhaps.

.....peace.....