Rachel is a Hebrew name that means "ewe" or "female sheep", a tender image in a shepherd culture. In the Book of Genesis Rachel is the beloved wife of Jacob and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, and the character Rachel Green on Friends kept the name in the American spotlight through the 1990s. Rachel was number 21 in the United States in 2000 and has slid steadily since, to number 167 in 2015 and number 250 among girls' names in 2025.