A Hebrew name meaning strong, firm, or enduring.
Eitan is the Hebrew form of Ethan, written אֵיתָן, and its core meaning is usually given as “firm,” “enduring,” “strong,” or “steadfast.” It comes from a Hebrew adjective rather than from a decorative nickname, which gives it an unusually solid feel: the name sounds as if it was built to last. In the Hebrew Bible, Ethan or Eitan appears as the name of several figures, most famously Ethan the Ezrahite, traditionally associated with wisdom and with Psalm 89.
That biblical grounding has kept the name in circulation for centuries in Jewish communities, even as spellings shifted across languages. What changed more recently is not the name’s substance but its presentation. In English-speaking countries, Ethan became the dominant spelling and eventually one of the most popular boys’ names of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
Eitan, by contrast, preserved the more visibly Hebrew form and so often signals a closer connection to Israeli Hebrew, Jewish tradition, or both. That makes it feel at once ancient and contemporary: biblical in origin, modern in sound. Culturally, Eitan carries the appeal of a name that is dignified without being severe.
It belongs to a large family of names shaped by scripture, but unlike some heavily Latinized or Anglicized forms, it still feels rooted in the original language. Parents who choose Eitan often seem drawn to that directness: not just a name that means strength, but one that has sounded steadfast for millennia.