Rachel is from the Hebrew *Rachel* ("ewe"). **The biblical Rachel — younger daughter of Laban, second wife of Jacob, mother of Joseph and Benjamin** — for whom Jacob worked 14 years (seven for her sister Leah by his father-in-law's deceit, seven more for Rachel). **Died giving birth to Benjamin on the road to Bethlehem; her tomb (Kever Rachel) remains a major Jewish pilgrimage site**. **Rachel Carson (1907-1964)** — American marine biologist whose *Silent Spring* (1962) launched the modern environmental movement and led to the US ban on DDT. **Rachel Maddow (born 1973)** — first openly gay anchor of a major US prime-time news program.
Subject of countless biblical commentaries and Mark Hamilton Lytle's *The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement* (2007).
Rachel reduces to one — the number of Jacob's beloved.