Neftali is the Spanish form of Naphtali, a Hebrew name that means "my struggle" or "my wrestling", after the son of Jacob and Bilhah who founded one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The name is used mainly in Latin American families and was the birth name of the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, Ricardo Eliécer Neftalí Reyes Basoalto. Neftali ranked 1752 among US boys in 2000, peaked at 1747 in 2003 and stands at number 2785 in 2025.