Elnatan
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has given".
Name Census estimates that about 47 living Americans carry the first name Elnatan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Elnatan today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Elnatan births was 2018 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Elnatan. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Elnatan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Elnatan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
47
~ 1 in 7,292,645 Americans
Peak year
2018
7 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2023 SSA rank
#11,223
Tracked since 2010
Popularity
Elnatan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Elnatan from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 41 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Elnatan 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 Elnatan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Elnatans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Elnatan
Elnatan is a Hebrew name derived from the words "el" meaning "God" and "natan" meaning "given". It was a common name among ancient Israelites, particularly during the biblical period.
The name Elnatan appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Elnatan was the name of a priest who returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BC.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Elnatan can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish texts dating back to the 3rd century BC. The name appears in several fragments, indicating its usage among the Essene community during that period.
In the 1st century AD, Elnatan was the name of a prominent Jewish scholar and member of the Sanhedrin, the highest court of ancient Israel. He is mentioned in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
During the Middle Ages, Elnatan was a relatively common name among Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East. One notable figure was Elnatan ben Moses Kalkish, a 14th-century French rabbi and scholar who wrote commentaries on various Jewish texts.
Another notable bearer of the name was Elnatan ben Avraham Tzarfati, a 16th-century Italian Kabbalist and philosopher who wrote extensively on Jewish mysticism and the Kabbalah.
In more recent times, Elnatan Zalmanovich was a Russian-born Israeli military commander who played a significant role in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was born in 1896 and died in 1976.
It is worth noting that the name Elnatan has also appeared in various Arabic-speaking regions, where it is sometimes spelled as "Ilnathan" or "Alnathan". However, its usage and popularity in these regions have been relatively limited compared to its Hebrew origins.
People
Elnatan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Elnatan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Elnatan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Elnatan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 47 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Elnatan 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 1 in 7,292,645 US residents.
Is Elnatan a common name?
We classify Elnatan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 47 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Elnatan most popular?
The single biggest year for Elnatan was 2018, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Elnatan is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Elnatan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Elnatan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Elnatan 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 Elnatan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Elnatan 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 Elnatan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people share the name Elnatan?
You can see how many Americans are named Elnatan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.