Dathan
Masculine
Dathan is one of the men the earth swallows. He and Abiram challenge Moses in the wilderness, refuse to appear when summoned, and the ground opens under their tents while they are standing in the doorways.
How old is the name Dathan?
Dathan first appears in US birth records in 1958 — 67 years ago. The typical Dathan alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 1,500 people named Dathan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Dathan most popular?
Dathan peaked in 1975, reaching #1191 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 9,504 places below that high. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Dathan
The rebellion in Numbers 16 is one of the sharpest confrontations in the Torah. Korah challenges the priesthood, Dathan and Abiram challenge Moses's authority to lead, and their complaint is a good one: he brought them out of a land flowing with milk and honey to die in a wilderness, and has made himself a prince over them. Moses summons them and they refuse to come. The ground then opens and takes them, their households and their possessions. The name survived as a Puritan and later American biblical borrowing, and its modern visibility comes largely from Cecil B DeMille's film of 1956, where Dathan is the collaborator and schemer. Using the name of a man the text condemns is not unusual; Cain, Delilah and Jezebel have all had their turns.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Dathan appears in the book of Numbers as one of the leaders of a rebellion against Moses. The name's meaning is not established. Most Americans meeting it will know it from the 1956 film in which Dathan is the villain; the peak is 1975.
Pronouncing Dathan
DAY-thun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some say DATH-un with a short first vowel; both readings occur.
Nicknames for Dathan
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1958
- Most boys named
- 200553 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1191reached in 1975
- Change vs 2024
- −33.3%6 in 2025, from 9
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Dathan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Datan in Hebrew — same name
Dathans among us
people named Dathan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Dathan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Atlee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Dathan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Atlee climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Atlee's path sketches the road Dathan is walking now.
Dathan sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Dathan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Dathan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables and six letters, spelled as heard.
- It sits close to Nathan and Ethan in sound.
- It is genuinely rare in every decade.
- The biblical bearer is a rebel who is destroyed.
- Two pronunciations of the first vowel are in use.
- The 1975 peak dates it closely.
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Dathan
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Dathans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,500 people named Dathan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Dathan in 2025?
- Dathan ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Dathan?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Dathan — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Dathan with classmates?
- Dathan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Dathan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dudley#10695 · Dell#10695 · Buford#10695 · Toney#10695 · Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Jodie#10695 · Nora#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Dathan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Dathan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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