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Naftali

Masculine · “my struggle”

1951high 2018
#2363 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare58 boys in 2025

Naftali is 'my struggle' in Hebrew — Rachel names him for a wrestling match with her sister, and says she has won.

How old is the name Naftali?

Naftali first appears in US birth records in 1951 — 74 years ago. The typical Naftali alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 2,000 people named Naftali are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Naftali most popular?

Naftali peaked in 2018, reaching #1823 nationally. Today it ranks #2363, 540 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.

Compare this nameMore “N” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Naftali

Rachel names Naftali after what she calls a struggle with Leah over children, and says she has won — one of the franker sibling rivalries in Genesis. Jacob's blessing calls the tribe a hind let loose that gives goodly words. Naftali is standard in Israel and Orthodox communities and is in current American use.

Meaning

my struggle, my wrestling

From the Hebrew Naftali, from patal, 'to twist' or 'wrestle'. Genesis has Rachel say she has wrestled great wrestlings with her sister and prevailed. Jacob's blessing calls him a hind let loose. The Hebrew is documented.

How the name formed

  1. patal
  2. Naftali

Related forms: נפתלי · Naphtali · Naftole

Pronouncing Naftali

naf-TAH-lee

Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hebrew stresses the last, naf-ta-LEE.

Nicknames for Naftali

Moderate

TaliThe back of the name, and a name in its own right in Hebrew
NafThe front clipping, used inside families rather than generally
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1951–202583420835819512025

US babies named Naftali per year from 1951 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#18231950s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1951
Most boys named
201883 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1823reached in 2018
Change vs 2024
−20.5%58 in 2025, from 73
Naftali sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2018, with 83 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Naftali in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • נפתלי in Hebrew — transliteration
  • Naphtali in English — spelling variant
  • Naftole in Yiddish — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey, Maryland.

Naftalis among us

2,000

people named Naftali are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 29,450 born in 2025 was named Naftali

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Naftali

#2363
Naftali on the 2025 chart
#864
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Naftali went to 58 boys in 2025, but Naphtali is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 64, which makes it the 864th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,499 places above the chart.

  • Naftali58
  • Naphtali6

About 1 boy in 26,689 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 29,450 for Naftali itself.

Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Daris test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Naftali's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Daris climbed just as high around 1961, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Daris's path sketches the road Naftali is walking now.

40%chance Naftali will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Naftali, aligned on its peakDaris· peak 1961not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+60 yrsDaris · #6515Naftali today
Naftali today is about where Daris stood in 1968 — 7 years past a #1823-sized peak. By 1983, Daris had settled around #2824.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Naftali 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 Naftali is headed

19512030

US babies named Naftali per year, 1951 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Naftali should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady+5% by 2030projected around #2,403 in 2030

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.

Naftali beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Naftali in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Naftalithis name58#2363Javi58#2363Zacchaeus58#2363Pete58#2363Herman58#2363

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That Rachel names him for winning a fight with her sister is a first-rate detail.
  • The hind-let-loose blessing is a genuinely fine image.
  • Tali is available as a short form that is a real Hebrew name.
What to consider
  • The struggle meaning is combative.
  • Naphtali is the standard biblical spelling.
  • It reads as specifically Jewish and observant.

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Naftali

Masculine · #2363 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Naftalis are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,000 people named Naftali are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Naftali?
Naftali is the most-used spelling in US records — 58 of the 64 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Naphtali.
How popular is the name Naftali in 2025?
Naftali ranks #2363 among US boy names in 2025, with 58 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Naftali?
About 1 in every 29,450 US boys born in 2025 was named Naftali — 58 in all.
Will my child share the name Naftali with classmates?
Naftali will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Naftali

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Javi#2363 · Zacchaeus#2363 · Pete#2363 · Herman#2363 · Clint#2363 · Lipa#2363 · Reuven#2363 · Kyngston#2363

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Naftali? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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