Shiloh

In the Hebrew Bible, Shiloh is the name of the central sanctuary of the Israelites during the period of the judges, where the Tabernacle stood for more than 300 years before the construction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.

The sanctuary is described in the Book of Joshua chapter 18 and the Book of First Samuel, where the young Samuel serves under the priest Eli.

Archaeological excavations at Khirbet Seilun in the modern West Bank, conducted from the 1920s onward, have uncovered remains identified with the biblical site.

The Book of Genesis 49:10 contains the famous phrase “the scepter shall not depart from Judah... until Shiloh come,” which Jewish and Christian traditions have read as a messianic prophecy.

This interpretation gave the word a theological charge that influenced its later use as a personal name.

In American history, Shiloh is also the name of a Tennessee battlefield where 1 of the bloodiest engagements of the Civil War took place in April 1862, named for a small Methodist meeting house on the site.

As a given name, Shiloh remained rare until the 21st century. It appeared occasionally in American records from the 19th century onward, usually among religious families drawn to less common biblical names. According to U.S.

Social Security Administration records, Shiloh first entered the top 1000 for girls in 2006, the year that actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt named their daughter Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt.

The name has continued as a unisex choice, appearing in the top 1000 for both boys and girls throughout the 2010s and 2020s.