Judahs

Judahs is a plural form that may refer to the descendants of the biblical Tribe of Judah or to individuals who bear Judah as a given name or surname. The name Judah comes from the Hebrew Yehudah, commonly understood as meaning “praise (to) Yahweh” or “thanks to Yahweh.”

Historically, the Tribe of Judah was one of the twelve tribes of Israel, named for Judah, the fourth son of Jacob and Leah. Its traditional homeland lay in the southern portion of Canaan, including Jerusalem. The tribe played a central role in the united monarchy and later formed the southern Kingdom of Judah after the northern kingdom split. Jerusalem served as its capital, and the line of kings descended from David, who was from the tribe of Judah, helped establish a dynastic center for the kingdom. After the Babylonian exile, the inhabitants of Judah and Judea were known as Judeans, and the ethnonym Yehudim—later rendered in various languages as Jews—emerged from this identification.

In modern usage, “Judahs” is not a common term in reference books. It is more typically encountered as a surname or given name, or as a plural reference to people descended from Judah in historical contexts. The more widely used term for this ethnic and historical group is “Jews.”