Genesis gives Noah's eldest son the name Shem.
The biblical account names Noah's three sons as Shem, Ham, and Japheth. They enter the ark with Noah and their wives, and Genesis later presents them as the ancestors of nations after the Flood. Shem is listed first in the relevant passages, though the text does not explicitly use the modern phrase “eldest son” in every translation.
Shem is especially important in biblical genealogies. Genesis traces a line from Shem through Arpachshad and later generations to Abram, who is called Abraham. Because of this genealogy, the term “Semitic” was historically associated with Shem, although modern linguistic classification uses “Semitic” for a language family rather than as a simple biological label.
Ham and Japheth are the other two named sons. They are often confused with Shem because all three appear together in the ark narrative.