Gamaliel the Elder (/ɡəˈmeɪliəl, -ˈmɑ -, ˌɡæməˈli əl/;also spelled Gamliel; Hebrew: רַבַּן גַּמְלִיאֵל הַזָּקֵן Rabban Gamlīyʾēl hazZāqēn; Koinē Greek: Γαμαλιὴλ ὁ Πρεσβύτερος Gamaliēl ho Presbýteros), or Rabban Gamaliel I, was a leading authority in the Sanhedrin in the early first century
AD. He was the son of Simeon
ben Hillel and grandson of the great Jewish teacher Hillel the Elder. Gamaliel is thought to have died in 52 AD (AM 3813). He fathered Simeon
ben Gamliel, who was named for Gamaliel's father, and a daughter, who married a priest named
Simon ben Nathanael.
Gamaliel as a
boy's name is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Gamaliel is "recompense of
God". A biblical name probably brought to America by the Puritans.
