Nathanel
Nathanel was given to 6 boys in 2025, #11,588 among boys’ names; 885 Americans have been recorded with it since 1917 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nathanel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Nathanel?
#11,588 among boys’ names, 2025
Nathanel fell from #7,872 in 2015 to #11,588 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 5.2 to 3.5 per million.
39 babies in 2002, the peak
Nathanel peaked in 2002, when 39 boys were given it, #2,531 among boys’ names. The 6 births of 2025 are 15% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 6 | #11,588 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 6 | #11,866 | 3.4 |
| 2020 | 5 | #13,463 | 2.9 |
| 2019 | 7 | #10,477 | 3.9 |
| 2018 | 7 | #10,400 | 3.9 |
| 2017 | 11 | #7,395 | 5.9 |
| 2016 | 5 | #13,604 | 2.6 |
| 2015 | 10 | #7,872 | 5.2 |
| 2014 | 8 | #9,363 | 4.2 |
| 2013 | 9 | #8,565 | 4.8 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 12 | #6,905 | 6.3 |
| 2011 | 17 | #5,356 | 9.0 |
| 2010 | 18 | #5,176 | 9.4 |
| 2009 | 24 | #4,238 | 12.1 |
| 2008 | 30 | #3,622 | 14.7 |
| 2007 | 20 | #4,751 | 9.6 |
| 2006 | 25 | #3,961 | 12.2 |
| 2005 | 19 | #4,583 | 9.5 |
| 2004 | 20 | #4,367 | 10.1 |
| 2003 | 28 | #3,335 | 14.2 |
| 2002 | 39 | #2,531 | 20.1 |
| 2001 | 22 | #3,804 | 11.3 |
| 2000 | 14 | #5,232 | 7.1 |
| 1999 | 17 | #4,273 | 8.9 |
| 1998 | 25 | #3,157 | 13.1 |
| 1997 | 18 | #3,832 | 9.5 |
| 1996 | 20 | #3,502 | 10.6 |
| 1995 | 11 | #5,396 | 5.8 |
| 1994 | 11 | #5,337 | 5.7 |
| 1993 | 16 | #3,953 | 8.2 |
| 1992 | 9 | #5,987 | 4.5 |
| 1991 | 8 | #6,338 | 4.0 |
| 1990 | 15 | #3,900 | 7.3 |
| 1989 | 12 | #4,437 | 6.0 |
| 1988 | 20 | #2,818 | 10.4 |
| 1987 | 17 | #3,030 | 9.1 |
| 1986 | 8 | #5,178 | 4.3 |
| 1985 | 13 | #3,536 | 7.0 |
| 1984 | 17 | #2,781 | 9.4 |
| 1982 | 14 | #3,234 | 7.7 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,309 | 3.9 |
| 1980 | 8 | #4,811 | 4.5 |
| 1979 | 11 | #3,737 | 6.4 |
| 1978 | 8 | #4,435 | 4.9 |
| 1977 | 8 | #4,458 | 4.9 |
| 1976 | 8 | #4,287 | 5.1 |
| 1975 | 7 | #4,641 | 4.5 |
| 1973 | 5 | #5,628 | 3.2 |
| 1961 | 6 | #3,937 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 5 | #4,216 | 2.4 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,706 | 2.9 |
| 1950 | 5 | #4,040 | 2.8 |
| 1943 | 7 | #3,148 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 8 | #2,874 | 5.8 |
| 1941 | 6 | #3,390 | 4.9 |
| 1939 | 8 | #2,750 | 7.2 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,410 | 5.4 |
| 1936 | 7 | #3,069 | 6.7 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,875 | 7.7 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,193 | 6.8 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,421 | 10.5 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,594 | 9.6 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,494 | 6.4 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,284 | 12.1 |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,006 | 5.4 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,376 | 11.5 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,626 | 4.5 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,318 | 7.2 |
| 1924 | 11 | #2,774 | 9.7 |
| 1923 | 10 | #2,885 | 9.1 |
| 1922 | 12 | #2,588 | 11.0 |
| 1920 | 13 | #2,417 | 12.2 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,040 | 6.1 |
| 1917 | 6 | #3,845 | 6.5 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nathanel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nathanel has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 74 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nathanel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nathanel, and how old are they?
An estimated 684 Americans named Nathanel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (77% of everyone recorded); the median is 25 years old and half are between 18 and 37. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 838 people named Nathanel (11 women and girls, 827 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 694 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 323,763 babies since 1880, Nathanel is the fifth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 6 of their 3,046 babies (<1%), the fourth most given that year.
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 Nathanel
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1910-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Jc | 1,847 |
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 Nathanel and names like it
- Compare Nathanel and NathanielBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sNathanel peaked in 2002.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nathanel since 1910.
- The top names of 2002The year the most babies were named Nathanel.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Nathanel alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with NMost given first.