Gideon is a Hebrew name meaning "hewer" or "feller", in the sense of one who cuts down, and belongs to the judge who in the Book of Judges led a small band of 300 men to victory over the Midianites. The Puritans brought it to colonial America, and the Gideons International, founded in 1899, made the name familiar through the Bibles they place in hotel rooms. In the United States Gideon has climbed from number 876 in 2000 to a peak of number 304 in 2017 and ranks number 337 in 2025.