Abraham's name first appears as Abram (Hebrew: אַבְרָם‎, Standard  Avram Tiberian ʾAḇrām) meaning either "exalted father", "father of the multitude",  or "my father is exalted" (compare Abiram). Later in Genesis he is called Abraham, which the text glosses as av hamon (goyim) "father of many (nations)"; however the name does not have any literal meaning in Hebrew.

Features in the Book of Genesis as the founding patriarch of the Israelites, Ishmaelites, Midianites and Edomite peoples.