Nathanael
Nathanael was given to 442 boys in 2025, #632 among boys’ names; 22,244 Americans have been recorded with it since 1915 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 21,400 Americans named Nathanael and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 14 and 35.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nathanael by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nathanael mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nathanael is “a male given name from Hebrew; more common in the form Nathaniel.” Its etymology gives the sense “God has given” (literally).
From Ancient Greek Ναθαναήλ (Nathanaḗl), from Biblical Hebrew נְתַנְאֵל (Netan’el, literally “God has given”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nathanael?
#632 among boys’ names, 2025
Nathanael fell from #580 in 2015 to #632 in 2025 among boys’ names, although its share of boys born rose from 0.25 to 0.26 per 1,000.
609 babies in 2000, the peak
Nathanael peaked in 2000, when 609 boys were given it, #408 among boys’ names. The 442 births of 2025 are 73% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 442 | #632 | 0.26 |
| 2024 | 407 | #674 | 0.24 |
| 2023 | 369 | #719 | 0.22 |
| 2022 | 325 | #779 | 0.19 |
| 2021 | 317 | #781 | 0.18 |
| 2020 | 345 | #721 | 0.20 |
| 2019 | 348 | #710 | 0.19 |
| 2018 | 337 | #717 | 0.19 |
| 2017 | 402 | #644 | 0.22 |
| 2016 | 431 | #621 | 0.23 |
Every recorded year (98)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 480 | #580 | 0.25 |
| 2014 | 477 | #583 | 0.25 |
| 2013 | 471 | #560 | 0.25 |
| 2012 | 438 | #584 | 0.23 |
| 2011 | 433 | #579 | 0.23 |
| 2010 | 475 | #538 | 0.25 |
| 2009 | 586 | #467 | 0.30 |
| 2008 | 531 | #513 | 0.26 |
| 2007 | 598 | #462 | 0.29 |
| 2006 | 594 | #455 | 0.29 |
| 2005 | 577 | #448 | 0.29 |
| 2004 | 595 | #436 | 0.30 |
| 2003 | 539 | #467 | 0.27 |
| 2002 | 539 | #454 | 0.28 |
| 2001 | 544 | #446 | 0.28 |
| 2000 | 609 | #408 | 0.31 |
| 1999 | 564 | #417 | 0.29 |
| 1998 | 600 | #406 | 0.31 |
| 1997 | 523 | #433 | 0.28 |
| 1996 | 465 | #471 | 0.25 |
| 1995 | 476 | #467 | 0.25 |
| 1994 | 404 | #500 | 0.21 |
| 1993 | 428 | #490 | 0.22 |
| 1992 | 407 | #498 | 0.20 |
| 1991 | 383 | #507 | 0.19 |
| 1990 | 356 | #522 | 0.17 |
| 1989 | 359 | #503 | 0.18 |
| 1988 | 356 | #487 | 0.19 |
| 1987 | 307 | #513 | 0.16 |
| 1986 | 394 | #433 | 0.21 |
| 1985 | 352 | #458 | 0.19 |
| 1984 | 350 | #449 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 356 | #440 | 0.20 |
| 1982 | 369 | #438 | 0.20 |
| 1981 | 323 | #462 | 0.18 |
| 1980 | 348 | #447 | 0.20 |
| 1979 | 275 | #504 | 0.16 |
| 1978 | 262 | #500 | 0.16 |
| 1977 | 218 | #568 | 0.13 |
| 1976 | 199 | #575 | 0.13 |
| 1975 | 163 | #634 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 103 | #791 | 0.07 |
| 1973 | 100 | #794 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 69 | #983 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 61 | #1,046 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 41 | #1,310 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 27 | #1,594 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 32 | #1,381 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 23 | #1,635 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,575 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 11 | #2,573 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 26 | #1,561 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 8 | #3,246 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 16 | #2,093 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,833 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 10 | #2,807 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 5 | #4,390 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 9 | #2,967 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,844 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 9 | #2,912 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 7 | #3,407 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 9 | #2,887 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,677 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #3,615 | under 0.01 |
| 1951 | 10 | #2,610 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 11 | #2,397 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 11 | #2,418 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 9 | #2,731 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 9 | #2,809 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #3,864 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 7 | #2,913 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #2,790 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,147 | under 0.01 |
| 1941 | 7 | #3,053 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 5 | #3,879 | under 0.01 |
| 1936 | 6 | #3,424 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,874 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,530 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,420 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 5 | #4,153 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 9 | #2,936 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 6 | #4,053 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 7 | #3,635 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 5 | #4,686 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,763 | under 0.01 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,458 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 6 | #3,764 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 6 | #3,706 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nathanael a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nathanael has been given almost only to boys: 17 girls in 98 years of records.
Girls and boys named Nathanael: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nathanael, and how old are they?
21,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 22,244 Americans ever recorded as Nathanael. The median Nathanael alive today is 24 years old; half are between 14 and 35.
The 2020 Census counted 16,476 people named Nathanael (43 women and girls, 16,433 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 19,518 born in the U.S. The Census count is 16% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 16 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 123 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,760 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 5,800 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 8,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 5,120 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Nathanael born?
The states with the most babies named Nathanael are California, Texas and Florida, with 41% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 64 | #498 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 60 | #544 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 38 | #485 | 1.0× |
| Georgia | 26 | #437 | 0.8× |
| New York | 24 | #633 | 0.8× |
| Virginia | 16 | #488 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 14 | #533 | 0.6× |
| Washington | 12 | #594 | 1.4× |
| Massachusetts | 11 | #456 | 0.9× |
| Arizona | 10 | #662 | 1.0× |
Where Nathanael is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nathanael is most over-represented in Oregon: since 1915 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Nathanael with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 323,763 babies since 1880, Nathanael is the second most given (6.9% of them). In 2025 it was given to 442 of their 3,046 babies (15%), again the second most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Nathanael
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Nathanael and names like it
- Compare Nathanael and NathanielBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sNathanael peaked in 2000.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nathanael since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Nathanael: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Nathanael.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Nathanael alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with NMost given first.