It means “my reward is GOD” in Hebrew and comes from the verb גמל (gamal), “to reward,” or “invest” and the word אל (‘el) GOD.

There are two men named Gamaliel mentioned in the Bible:

• A son of Pedahzur and leader of the tribe of Manasseh during Israel’s wandering years in the desert (Numbers 1, 10 ; 2, 20 ; 7, 54-59 & 10, 23)
• The legendary high-ranking rabbi who urged the Sanhedrin to be cautious in condemning the apostles (Acts 5, 34 spelled Γαμαλιηλ). Since Paul had been a student of Gamaliel (Acts 22, 3), it may well be that Gamaliel was among the very first scholars to recognize the scientific justice of Jesus’ theology. The Talmud relates how Gamaliel categorized his students according to their scholastic merit and applied four different types of fish as symbols to each category (Avot of Rabbi Natan XI). A student who had learned everything and could also answer was considered a “fish of the Great Ocean,” which obviously refers to the larger body of human knowledge that transcends all religions and local cultures. This classification may have helped establish the New Testament fish motif and secure the Ichtys as a symbol of Christ and Christianity. Gamaliel was the grandson of the even more famous Hillel the Elder, who first summarized the Torah with the already existing Golden Rule “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor.” This is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary” (Shabbos 31a; adapted from the version found in Matthew 7, 12 and referring to Jesus’ saying).