Lathan
Masculine
Lathan may be a form of Nathan with an L, an English place name, or a modern coinage — none is settled.
How old is the name Lathan?
Lathan first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Lathan alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 3,900 people named Lathan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Lathan most popular?
Lathan peaked in 2011, reaching #932 nationally. Today it ranks #2676, 1,744 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Lathan
Our story of Lathan is a story of three plausible parents. Latham is an English surname from the Norse hlaða, a barn — every English place called Latham or Laytham marks one. Nathan is Hebrew for 'he gave'. And American naming has built L- fronted variants of existing names for decades. Lathan appears in the registers from the 1970s, and which route a family took is not recorded.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Unsettled. Proposals include a variant of Nathan, 'he gave' in Hebrew; the English surname Latham, from the Norse hlaða, 'barn'; and a modern American coinage. None is established. The Latham route has a documented origin.
Pronouncing Lathan
LAY-thun
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some bearers say LATH-un with a short first vowel.
Nicknames for Lathan
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 2014178 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #932reached in 2011
- Change vs 2023
- −21.3%48 in 2025, from 61
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.
Lathan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Latham in English — related form
- Laythan in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Georgia.
Lathans among us
people named Lathan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 35,585 born in 2025 was named Lathan
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 Paulo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Lathan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Paulo climbed just as high around 1973, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Paulo's path sketches the road Lathan is walking now.
Lathan 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 Lathan is headed
Lathan is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Lathan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Lathan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The barn meaning is concrete where the Latham route holds.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk once heard.
- It is genuinely distinctive.
- No single origin is established.
- The first vowel splits between two readings.
- Nathan and Lathan are close enough to confuse.
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What they receive
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Lathan
Masculine · #2676 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Lathans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Lathan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Lathan in 2025?
- Lathan ranks #2676 among US boy names in 2025, with 48 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Lathan?
- About 1 in every 35,585 US boys born in 2025 was named Lathan — 48 in all.
- Will my child share the name Lathan with classmates?
- Lathan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Lathan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Isaak#2676 · Hershel#2676 · Mikhael#2676 · Kylon#2676 · Pryce#2676 · Davin#2676 · Juancarlos#2676 · Zyion#2676
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Lathan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Lathan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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