Benjamin Netanyahu was born with that name. His grandfather, Natan Miliekowski, immigrated to Palestine in 1920 and published articles under the pen name Netanyahu, which his children — including Benjamin’s father — adopted.

Hebraizing one’s name was very common as a symbolic act of Negation of the Diaspora, a core component of Zionism. It seems the trend started in 1920 with Abba Hushi, who led a group of 130 Zionist youths on Aliyah. Upon arrival the group burned their passports and adopted Hebrew names. Hushi changed his from Schneller (which has a similar meaning), saying:

Galicia is ended. We are done with life in Exile. We are now Jews realizing our ideals in the Land of Israel.

This practice became widespread and social pressure was intense. Hebraized names were usually (but not always) inspired either by the meaning or the phonetics of the original name. This ad, from 1926, offers help to anyone having difficulty choosing a Hebrew name:

After Independence, David Ben-Gurion (formerly Grün) insisted that cabinet ministers, senior army officers, diplomats, etc. adopt Hebrew names. Until quite recently it was required even of television and radio correspondents.

The letter below is dated September 20, 1949:

To the Chief of Staff,

The latest weekly briefing (No. 81) is signed by a Major Goldenzweig.

If there is no special reason for the Major to keep his cumbersome German name which is difficult for the people of this land to pronounce, I would, with all respect and sincerity, suggest that he change his name to a Hebrew name.

The Major may be called upon to represent the IDF, and it is not desirable for the Israeli army to be represented by a man who will be taken for a German.

Respectfully,

D. Ben-Gurion

Prime Minister and Minister of Defense

 

The trend continues today, with less urgency and almost no social pressure, but still as an affirmation of Israeli identity. I once attended a wedding where the bride and groom announced their chosen Hebraized surname. More common is hyphenating the original and Hebraized names, as was done by the late IDF Chief of Staf, Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. This is done to preserve name recognition, since you can’t count on everyone having heard of the change, and in some fields this is important. In such cases the children are called only by the Hebrew name, in this case Shahak, to seal the Hebraization of the family name.

Of all Israel’s prime ministers, only two — Menachem Begin and Ehud Olmert — had non-Hebraized names. To put things in perspective, here are the others:

• Ben-Gurion (Grün)
• Sharett (Shertok)
• Eshkol (Shkolnik)
• Meir (Meyerson)
• Rabin (Rubitzov, Hebraized by his father)
• Peres (Perski)
• Shamir (Yezernitsky)
• Netanyahu (Miliekowski, Hebraized by his father)
• Barak (Brog)
• Sharon (Scheinerman)
• https://www.quora.com/Why-did-Benjamin-Mileikowsky-change-his-name-to-Benjamin-Netenyahu-to-make-it-sound-more-Mideastern