Obed

name

name ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The son of Ruth and Boaz, father of Jesse and grandfather of David, grandson of Naomi.

    "And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David."

  2. 2
    A male given name from Hebrew of biblical origin.
  3. 3
    A stream draining a part of the Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee, USA.

Example

More examples

"So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife; and he went in to her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she bore a son. The women said to Naomi, "Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you today without a near kinsman. Let his name be famous in Israel. He shall be to you a restorer of life and sustain you in your old age; for your daughter-in-law, who loves you, who is better to you than seven sons, has given birth to him." Naomi took the child, laid him in her bosom, and became nurse to him. The women, her neighbors, gave him a name, saying, "A son is born to Naomi". They named him Obed. He is the father of Jesse, the father of David."

Etymology

From Hebrew אובד or עוֹבֵד (Oved, “servant”).

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.