Is Glenn in the Bible?

No one named Glenn appears in the Bible. Glenn comes from a Scottish surname taken from the Gaelic word gleann, “valley,” which is also the source of the English word glen. Glen, with one n, is a variant spelling of the same name. Both became common first names in the United States in the twentieth century.

What does Glenn mean in the Bible?

Glenn has no meaning in the Bible, because the Bible never uses it. The word behind it means “valley,” and valleys are the setting of several well-known passages of Scripture. The best known is Psalm 23:4: “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Another is the Valley of Elah, where David met Goliath: “the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them” (1 Samuel 17:3).

Does Glenn have a Hebrew meaning?

No. Glenn is Gaelic, not Hebrew, and it is not a Jewish name in origin. Biblical Hebrew has more than one word for a valley. Bible Hub’s concordance lists 60 occurrences of gay’, the word in Psalm 23:4, and 69 of ʿemeq, a broad valley or plain, which is the word for the Valley of Elah in 1 Samuel 17:2 and often forms part of a place-name.

Where the name Glenn comes from

The English word glen, meaning “a narrow valley,” is recorded from the late fifteenth century. It came into English through Scots from the Gaelic gleann, “mountain valley.” Glenn began as a Scottish surname derived from that word, and as a first name it is not a short form of any other name. Glen is a variant, and Glenna is a feminine form.

As a boys’ name Glenn was among the 100 most common in the United States every year from 1912 to 1969. It reached its highest rank, 55th, in 1962, the year the astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth. Glen reached its highest rank, 112th, in 1931. Glenn last appeared in the top 1,000 in 2008 and Glen in 2003.

The actor Glenn Ford (1916–2006) was born Gwyllyn Ford in Quebec and took his stage name from his father’s hometown, Glenford, Alberta. The actress Glenn Close (born 1947) also bears the name, but it has never caught on for girls. In the United States it ranked as a girls’ name only in some years between 1880 and 1900 and once in 1908.

Is Glenn a Christian name?

Glenn has no religious origin, but many Christians have borne it. Glenn Clark (1882–1956), a Presbyterian who taught at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1912 to 1944, founded the prayer movement known as the Camp Farthest Out in 1930 and wrote I Will Lift Up Mine Eyes (1937). Glenn Kaiser (born 1953), a musician and pastor in Chicago, led the Christian rock group Resurrection Band, formed in 1972 as part of the Jesus People USA community.

Related reading

• Bible Study: Psalm 23
• Which Valleys in the Bible Hold Spiritual Lessons?
• Is Camden in the Bible? No, it comes from an English place-name
• Is Your Name in the Bible? A Directory of 231 Names