Nat
Masculine · “God has given”
Nat is not a shortening of Nathan, whatever it looks like. Listen to the vowels: Nathan has a long a and Nat has a short one, and English clippings keep the vowel of the syllable they cut. The short a comes from Nathaniel, where the first syllable is unstressed and short. The name has a parent and it is the longer one.
How old is the name Nat?
Nat was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Nat alive today was born around 1928, making them about 97 years old. About 600 people named Nat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nat most popular?
Nat peaked in 1881, reaching #460 nationally. See the whole 1881 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Netan'el to Nat
The story of Nat
The shorter of the two names behind this one is a complete sentence with a word missing. It is a verb — he gave — and nothing else, and the subject who did the giving is left unsaid because in a Hebrew naming context there was no need to say it. That kind of construction is common in the language and reads oddly in translation: names that are statements about God with God omitted, on the assumption that everybody knows. The longer name puts the subject back in explicitly. So the pair are not a name and its extended form but two different ways of saying nearly the same thing, one of them trusting the listener rather more.
Meaning
God has given
Taken from the fuller name, which joins a Hebrew verb to the divine element. The verb on its own gives a separate and older name, and the two are not the same word with and without an ending.
How the name formed
- Netan'el
- Nathaniel
- Nat
Pronouncing Nat
NAT
One syllable with a short vowel, rhyming with hat. That vowel is the evidence for where the name was cut from, and it separates it cleanly from Nate.
Nicknames for Nat
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 191561 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #460reached in 1881
- Change vs 1996
- −16.7%5 in 2023, from 6
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.
Nats among us
people named Nat are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Nat sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- One syllable, unmistakable, and never spelled twice.
- It has been in use as a full name since records began in America.
- It sounds plain and unfussy in a way that suits any age.
- It reads as a nickname to some ears even when it is the legal name.
- Nate is commoner now and will be substituted by people who mishear.
- The generation that used it as a full name is largely gone.
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What they receive
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Nat
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Nats are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Nat are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nat in 2025?
- Nat is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Nat with classmates?
- Nat will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nicholas#112 · Nathan#63 · Noah#2 · Nathaniel#140 · Norman#1196 · Nolan#65 · Neil#850 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nat? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nat and another name?
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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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