Nathaniel
Feminine · “God has given”
Nathaniel is given to boys far more often — 287,103 boys against 1,162 girls since 1880. See Nathaniel as a boy name
The first thing Nathanael says in the gospel is a sneer. Told that the man they have been waiting for is from Nazareth, he asks whether anything good can come out of Nazareth, and the answer he gets is not an argument but an invitation: come and see.
How old is the name Nathaniel?
Nathaniel first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Nathaniel alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 1,000 people named Nathaniel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nathaniel most popular?
Nathaniel peaked in 1975, reaching #2565 nationally. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Netanel to Nathaniel
The story of Nathaniel
Nathan is a different name and not a shortening of this one, though the two share a verb. Nathan is the same word standing alone, with the giver unnamed, and it belongs to the prophet who tells David a story about a poor man's lamb and then says the man in the story is him; Nathaniel names the giver outright. English speakers treat the second as a long form of the first because the letters line up, and they are separate names carried by separate people in the text. The confusion is old and completely understandable and it is still a confusion.
Meaning
God has given
Hebrew natan, he gave, and el, God: a short sentence about a child being a gift. It belongs to the large family of Hebrew sentence-names and is the exact equivalent of the Greek Theodore, which says the same thing in the other order and in another language.
How the name formed
- Netanel
- Nathanael
- Nathaniel
Related forms: Netanel · Natanael · Natanaele
Pronouncing Nathaniel
nuh-THAN-yul
Three or four syllables depending on how carefully it is said. The th is the unvoiced one, as in thin, and the ending is reduced to almost nothing in ordinary American speech.
Nicknames for Nathaniel
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
- 200435 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2565reached in 1975
- Change vs 2016
- 0.0%6 in 2022, 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.
Nathaniel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Netanel in Hebrew — transliteration
- Natanael in Spanish — same name
- Natanaele in Italian — same name
Nathaniels among us
people named Nathaniel 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
Nathaniel 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
- Nate is a short, plain, adult everyday form available from the first day.
- The meaning is warm, clear and can be given to a child in three words.
- The name has been in continuous use for as long as there are records of names.
- The record carries it for girls in small numbers, so it is not quite an absolute signal.
- Nathanael with an a is the biblical spelling and Nathaniel the English one, so both circulate.
- Four syllables is a long name, and a short form will be chosen early by other people.
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What they receive
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Nathaniel
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Nathaniels are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Nathaniel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nathaniel in 2025?
- Nathaniel is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Nathaniel with classmates?
- Nathaniel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nathaniel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nathaniel and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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