Natale
Masculine · “Birthday”
Natale is given to both — 1,152 boys and 371 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Natale is the Italian word for Christmas, and it was given to children born on it. Not named after the day in the way English names sometimes gesture at one, but simply called it: a boy born on the twenty-fifth of December was Natale, and the practice was ordinary enough to need no explanation.
How old is the name Natale?
Natale first appears in US birth records in 1906 — 119 years ago. The typical Natale alive today was born around 1934, making them about 91 years old. About 400 people named Natale are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Natale most popular?
Natale peaked in 1915, reaching #1015 nationally. See the whole 1915 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From natalis to Natale
The story of Natale
One Portuguese navigator gave the same word to a city. Sailing down the coast of what is now Brazil, an expedition reached the mouth of a river on Christmas Day and named it for the day; the settlement founded there is still called Natal, and there is another Natal in South Africa named by Vasco da Gama for the same reason on the same day of the year, several thousand miles away. The Latin word for a birth has therefore ended up naming a festival, two cities on two continents, a South African province, an English adjective about birth and a good many Italian men, and every one of those comes from the same three syllables.
Meaning
Birthday, Christmas
Latin natalis, belonging to a birth, from which the Italian word for Christmas comes directly. The same Latin gives natal, nativity and the French Noel. The name is the word used unchanged, which Italian does more readily than English does.
How the name formed
- natalis
- Natale
Related forms: Natale · Noel · Natalio
Pronouncing Natale
nah-TAH-leh
Three syllables in Italian with the stress in the middle and the final e fully sounded. English speakers usually say nuh-TAL, treating the e as silent, which turns it into a different name.
Nicknames for Natale
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
- 1906
- Most boys named
- 191839 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1015reached in 1915
- Change vs 2006
- 0.0%5 in 2014, from 5
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.
Natale in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Natale in Italian — same name
- Noel in French — related form
- Natalio in Spanish — related form
Natales among us
people named Natale 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
Natale 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
- The meaning is clear, warm and can be given to a child in one word.
- Nat is a plain, unisex everyday form available immediately.
- It is entirely at home in Italian and readable at sight in English.
- The record carries it for girls as well as boys, so it signals nothing on a form.
- English speakers will silence the final e and produce a two-syllable name.
- It will be heard as Natalie, which is a different form and far commoner.
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What they receive
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Natale
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Natales are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Natale are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Natale in 2025?
- Natale is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Natale with classmates?
- Natale 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 Natale? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Natale and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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