Anatol
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "the rising sun".
Name Census estimates that about 0 living Americans carry the first name Anatol. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Anatol today is around 0 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Anatol births was 1920 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Anatol. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Anatol. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
0
~ - Americans
Peak year
1920
5 babies that year
Average age
-
1920 SSA rank
#4,315
Tracked since 1920
Census
Anatol in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 218 people with the first name Anatol, which placed it at #36,419 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#36,419
National first-name rank
People counted
218
218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Anatol
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anatol is White at 93.1%. The next largest groups are Black (2.8%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Anatol described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Anatol at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.1% · 203
- Black or African American2.8% · 6
- Two or more races2.8% · 6
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Anatol: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Anatol by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Anatol during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1920s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Anatol
The name Anatol has its roots in ancient Greek, deriving from the word "anatolē" which means "sunrise" or "the east." This name was particularly popular in the Byzantine Empire and other regions influenced by Greek culture during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Anatol can be found in the writings of the Greek philosopher and mathematician Ptolemy, who lived in the 2nd century AD. He mentioned an individual named Anatol in his astronomical treatise, the Almagest.
In the 5th century, there was a notable figure named Anatol who served as the Patriarch of Constantinople, one of the most prestigious positions in the Eastern Orthodox Church at the time. He played a significant role in shaping the church's doctrine and practices.
During the Renaissance period, the name Anatol gained popularity among the nobility and intellectuals who were inspired by classical Greek culture. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Anatol Krakow, a Polish humanist and poet who lived from 1449 to 1517.
In the 19th century, the Russian author and playwright Anatole France, whose real name was Jacques Anatole Thibault, became widely renowned for his works such as "The Crime of Sylvestre Bonnard" and "Penguin Island." He was born in 1844 and passed away in 1924, leaving a lasting impact on French literature.
Another notable figure was Anatol Lieven, a Russian-British journalist and historian who lived from 1917 to 2008. He made significant contributions to the study of Russian history and international relations, publishing several influential books on these topics.
In the realm of science, Anatol Rapoport, a Russian-born American mathematician and psychologist, made notable contributions to game theory, systems theory, and the study of conflict resolution. He was born in 1911 and lived until 2007, leaving a lasting legacy in his fields of expertise.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Anatol, each leaving their mark in various fields and cultures, reflecting the rich heritage and diverse origins of this name.
People
Anatol + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Anatol as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Anatol: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Anatol?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 0 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Anatol going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about - US residents.
Is Anatol a common name?
We classify Anatol as "Very Rare". It ranks above 2.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Anatol most popular?
The single biggest year for Anatol was 1920, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Anatol is about 0 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Anatol in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 218 people with the name Anatol, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,419 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Anatol in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Anatol?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Anatol leans strongly male. 224 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Anatol?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Anatol is White at 93.1%. The next largest groups are Black (2.8%) and Two or More Races (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Anatol most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Anatol in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.1% (203 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Anatol in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Anatol a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Anatol in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Anatol still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Anatol in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Anatol can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Anatol as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Anatol, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.