Natalie
Feminine · “of the birthday”
Natalie is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 379,062 girls against 769 boys since 1880. See Natalie as a boy name
Natalie is the French form of a Latin name, and English took it from French rather than from Latin, which is why it ends the way it does. It is recorded here for boys as well as girls, in small numbers.
How old is the name Natalie?
Natalie was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Natalie alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 354,000 people named Natalie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Natalie most popular?
Natalie peaked in 2008, reaching #13 nationally. Today it ranks #89, 76 places below that high. See the whole 2008 chart.
Where it comes from
From Natalia to Natalie
The story of Natalie
Latin made the name Natalia, and French wore the ending away to produce Natalie, which is the form English borrowed. The Latin original went east as well and is still Natalya in Russian, so the name has two living branches that sound quite different. Among the people who have carried it, one is worth mentioning for a fact that rarely appears alongside an acting career: the actress who won an Oscar for a film about a ballerina had, as a teenager, co-authored a paper in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and reached the finals of a national science competition, and later published a second paper while at university. She has said she gave the science up because acting took the time, which is a straightforwardly sad sentence.
Meaning
of the birthday
The Latin adjective behind it refers to a birth, and the name was given in connection with a particular one. The reading is settled and has not been disputed.
Cultural footprint
Natalie Portman (b. 1981) — Oscar winner (Black Swan) with a Harvard degree
Natalie Wood (b. 1938) — Star of West Side Story and Rebel Without a Cause
Natalie Cole (b. 1950) — Grammy-winning singer, Nat King Cole's daughter
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Natalia
- Nathalie
- Natalie
Related forms: Nathalie · Natalya · Natalia
Pronouncing Natalie
NAT-uh-lee
Three syllables with the stress in front. The French form has an h and is said nah-tah-LEE, with the weight at the end.
Nicknames for Natalie
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 girls named
- 200710,443 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #13reached in 2008
- Change vs 2022
- −30.7%2,736 in 2025, from 3,947
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.
Natalie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nathalie in French — same name
- Natalya in Russian — same name
- Natalia in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Natalies among us
people named Natalie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 587 born in 2025 was named Natalie
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 Cheryl test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Natalie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Cheryl climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Cheryl's path sketches the road Natalie is walking now.
Natalie is coming down from a big peak (#13 in 2008). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Natalie is headed
Natalie is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Natalie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Natalie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and easy to explain in a few words.
- It has established forms in French, Russian, Spanish and German, so it travels without translation.
- Nat and Tally are both available as short forms and both are comfortable.
- Nathalie and Natalee are both in the record, so the spelling will be checked back with you.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to girls but is recorded for boys as well, so a form will occasionally guess wrong.
- The meaning is tied to a particular feast, which matters to some families and to no others.
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What they receive
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Natalie
Feminine · #89 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Natalies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 354,000 people named Natalie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Natalie in 2025?
- Natalie ranks #89 among US girl names in 2025, with 2,736 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Natalie?
- About 1 in every 587 US girls born in 2025 was named Natalie — 2,736 in all.
- Will my child share the name Natalie with classmates?
- Natalie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Natalie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Sarah#90 · Autumn#88 · Maria#87 · Everly#91 · Lydia#92 · Audrey#86 · Kennedy#85 · Kinsley#93
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Natalie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Natalie and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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