Nathan
Feminine · “he gave”
Nathan is given to boys far more often — 587,497 boys against 1,774 girls since 1880. See Nathan as a boy name
Nathan is a complete name that is also the middle of two others. Nathaniel and Jonathan are both built around the same Hebrew verb, and Nathan is that verb standing alone: he gave. The prophet who carried it is remembered for one particular act of nerve — telling a king a story about a stolen lamb and then telling him the story was about him.
How old is the name Nathan?
Nathan first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Nathan alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 1,700 people named Nathan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nathan most popular?
Nathan peaked in 1983, reaching #1379 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 13,563 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Natan to Nathan
The story of Nathan
The Nathan of the books of Samuel is a court prophet who does something court prophets rarely survive: he confronts David over Bathsheba by telling him a parable about a rich man who takes a poor man's only lamb, waits for the king to condemn the rich man, and then says that the king is the man. It is one of the most quoted passages in the Hebrew Bible and it is the reason the name carries what it carries. Nathan came into English use after the Reformation, went to America with the Puritans, and produced at least one American figure who is still quoted for a sentence he is said to have spoken on a scaffold in the Revolution.
Meaning
he gave
Hebrew natan is simply the verb: he gave. Nathaniel adds God as the giver — God has given — and Jonathan names the giver differently, using the divine name. Nathan on its own leaves the subject unstated, which is either an abbreviation or a deliberate reticence depending on which scholar you ask. The verb itself is not disputed and the name is one of the plainest in the Hebrew Bible.
How the name formed
- Natan
- Nathan
Related forms: נָתָן · Nathan · Natán · Natan · Nafan
Pronouncing Nathan
NAY-thun
NAY-thun, two syllables, stress at the front, the th soft as in the word the. Hebrew says na-TAN with the weight at the back and both vowels short, which is a noticeably different name to an Israeli ear. French keeps the English-ish shape and adds a nasal ending.
Nicknames for Nathan
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 198386 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1379reached in 1983
- Change vs 2022
- −16.7%5 in 2025, 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.
Nathan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- נָתָן in Hebrew — transliteration
- Nathan in French — same name
- Natán in Spanish — same name
- Natan in Italian — same name
- Nafan in Russian — same name
Nathans among us
people named Nathan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Nathan
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 Italia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nathan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Italia climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Italia's path sketches the road Nathan is walking now.
Nathan 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
Nathan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nathan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two syllables, one spelling, and no ambiguity anywhere in it — rare in a name this widely used.
- Nate is a complete working name rather than a clipping that needs the long form behind it.
- It has been in continuous English use for four centuries without becoming tied to any one period.
- The story attached to it is about telling the truth to power, which is an unusual thing for a name to carry.
- It is assumed to be short for Nathaniel constantly, and correcting that is a small speech most Nathans stop giving.
- A great many people already carry it, so a Nathan will rarely be the only one in a workplace over a lifetime.
- Nate is so automatic that a family wanting the full name used will have to insist and will mostly lose.
- This spelling is on record for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Nathan will be read as a boy on every form; Natania and Netanya carry the same root without that.
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Nathan
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nathans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,700 people named Nathan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nathan in 2025?
- Nathan ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nathan?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Nathan — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nathan with classmates?
- Nathan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nathan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Martie#14942 · Wilhemina#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nathan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nathan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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