Job is the Hebrew name Iyyov, usually explained as "persecuted" or, from an older Semitic root, "where is my father?". The Book of Job tells of the righteous man who loses everything and keeps his faith, which made the patience of Job a proverb and gave the name a quiet following among Puritans and Dutch Calvinists. In the United States it has stayed rare: number 1424 in 2000, its best year in the data, and number 2659 in 2025 with 49 boys.