Jonatan
Masculine · “the Lord has given”
Jonatan is Jonathan without the h — the spelling used in Sweden, Poland, Spain and much of Latin America, where the h would be silent or awkward anyway. The name underneath is Hebrew and very old, and it says something a parent might mean sincerely.
How old is the name Jonatan?
Jonatan first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Jonatan alive today was born around 2003, making them about 22 years old. About 3,700 people named Jonatan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Jonatan most popular?
Jonatan peaked in 1995, reaching #896 nationally. Today it ranks #2718, 1,822 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yehonatan to Jonatan
The story of Jonatan
Jonathan belongs to the books of Samuel, where he is Saul's son and David's friend, and the friendship is why the name survived: it is one of the few names in the Hebrew Bible remembered for loyalty rather than for rule. Greek and Latin carried it into Europe, and the Reformation put it into ordinary English use. The h-less spelling is the Continental one — Swedish and Norwegian Jonatan, Polish Jonatan, Spanish Jonatán with an accent — and it reached the United States mostly through Spanish-speaking families, for whom the h is a letter that says nothing at all.
Meaning
the Lord has given
Hebrew Yehonatan compounds the divine name with natan, 'he gave'. The shorter Yonatan says the same thing. It is one of the least disputed etymologies in the whole biblical stock.
How the name formed
- Yehonatan
- Yonatan
- Ionathan
- Jonathan
- Jonatan
Related forms: Jonathan · Yonatan · Jonatán · Jonatan · Jonatán
Pronouncing Jonatan
JON-ah-tan
English speakers say it exactly as they say Jonathan and often do not notice the missing h. Spanish puts the stress on the last syllable, jo-na-TAN. The Hebrew Yonatan begins with a Y and has no J sound at all.
Nicknames for Jonatan
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 2006159 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #896reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- −21.7%47 in 2025, from 60
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.
Jonatan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Jonathan in English — same name
- Yonatan in Hebrew — same name
- Jonatán in Spanish — spelling variant
- Jonatan in Swedish — spelling variant
- Jonatán in Hungarian — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Jonatans among us
people named Jonatan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 36,342 born in 2025 was named Jonatan
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 Michal test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jonatan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Michal climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Michal's path sketches the road Jonatan is walking now.
Jonatan 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
Where Jonatan is headed
Jonatan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Jonatan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Jonatan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One of the oldest continuously used names in the West, with a meaning that has never been in doubt.
- Jon, Jona and Yoni are established short forms in three different languages.
- Works in English, Spanish, Polish and Scandinavian mouths without changing shape.
- In an English-speaking country the missing h will be added back by almost everyone who writes it down.
- It is close enough to Jonathan that the child may be assumed to be a Jonathan going by a variant spelling.
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What they receive
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Jonatan
Masculine · #2718 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Jonatans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,700 people named Jonatan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Jonatan in 2025?
- Jonatan ranks #2718 among US boy names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Jonatan?
- About 1 in every 36,342 US boys born in 2025 was named Jonatan — 47 in all.
- Will my child share the name Jonatan with classmates?
- Jonatan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Jonatan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Einar#2718 · Kurtis#2718 · Sasha#2718 · Jovany#2718 · Ahsan#2718 · Xavien#2718 · Yassin#2718 · Unknown#2718
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jonatan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Jonatan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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