Nathanael
Masculine · “God has given”
Nathanael is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 22,227 boys against 17 girls since 1880.
Nathanael is the older, Greek-lettered form of a Hebrew name that has been in continuous use for well over two thousand years — the spelling the Gospel of John uses for the disciple called from under the fig tree. Said aloud it moves in four unhurried beats and lands on a soft -el, the same ending Daniel and Samuel carry.
How old is the name Nathanael?
Nathanael first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Nathanael alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 21,500 people named Nathanael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nathanael most popular?
Nathanael peaked in 1998, reaching #405 nationally. Today it ranks #632, 227 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Netan'el to Nathanael
The story of Nathanael
The name begins as Hebrew Netan'el, borne by several minor figures in the Hebrew Bible, and passed into Greek as Nathanaēl when Jewish scriptures were translated in Alexandria. That Greek spelling is the one the Gospel of John keeps for the disciple Nathanael of Cana, and from there it traveled into Latin and then into English Bibles. English speakers mostly settled on the smoothed-out Nathaniel after the Reformation, when biblical names spread widely among Protestant families, but the -ael form never disappeared; it stayed alive in scholarly, liturgical and family usage on both sides of the Atlantic. Spanish and Portuguese kept their own version, Natanael, which is one reason the spelling has held on strongly in states with large Hispanic populations.
Meaning
God has given
From the Hebrew elements natan, 'he gave', and El, 'God' — often rendered simply as 'gift of God'.
How the name formed
- Netan'el
- Nathanaēl
- Nathanael
- Nathaniel
- Nat
Related forms: Natanael · Natanael · Nathanaël · נְתַנְאֵל (Netan'el) · Natanaele · Nathanael
Pronouncing Nathanael
nuh-THAN-yel
Also said nuh-THAN-ee-uhl, with four syllables. The final -ael is one sound, not two — it rhymes with the ending of Daniel, not with 'ay-el'.
Nicknames for Nathanael
High
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 boys named
- 2007598 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #405reached in 1998
- Change vs 2023
- +19.8%442 in 2025, from 369
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.
Nathanael in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Natanael in Spanish — same name
- Natanael in Portuguese — same name
- Nathanaël in French — spelling variant
- נְתַנְאֵל (Netan'el) in Hebrew — transliteration
- Natanaele in Italian — same name
- Nathanael in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Nathanaels among us
people named Nathanael are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,864 born in 2025 was named Nathanael
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 Jewel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nathanael's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jewel climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jewel's path sketches the road Nathanael is walking now.
Nathanael 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 Nathanael is headed
Nathanael should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Nathanael beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nathanael in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Meaning is settled and easy to state: 'God has given', from Hebrew.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Nate and Nat — that need no explanation to anyone.
- Works with almost no adjustment in Spanish, Portuguese, French and German, which matters in bilingual families.
- Familiar in sound while uncommon in this spelling: a child is unlikely to share it in a classroom.
- A documented written record stretching from the Hebrew Bible through the Greek New Testament to the present day.
- Nathaniel is the far more common English spelling, and this one will be corrected to it on forms, rosters and coffee cups for life. Most Nathanaels learn to spell it out early and think nothing of it.
- The -ael ending trips some readers into a three-syllable 'nay-thuh-nel' or a stretched 'ay-el'. A short correction usually settles it.
- Nate is so natural a shortening that the full four syllables may end up reserved for documents and stern moments — worth being at peace with if the long form is the one you love.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Nathanael
Masculine · #632 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nathanaels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 21,500 people named Nathanael are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nathanael in 2025?
- Nathanael ranks #632 among US boy names in 2025, with 442 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nathanael?
- About 1 in every 3,864 US boys born in 2025 was named Nathanael — 442 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nathanael with classmates?
- Nathanael will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nathanael
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zayd#632 · Raul#634 · Izaiah#635 · Shane#635 · Jayceon#628 · Danny#628 · Sincere#628 · Kenzo#628
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nathanael? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nathanael and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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