Johathan
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God's gift" or "Yahweh has given".
Name Census estimates that about 1,840 living Americans carry the first name Johathan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Johathan today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Johathan births was 1988 (114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Johathan. 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.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 186,280 Americans
Peak year
1988
114 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2012 SSA rank
#11,468
Tracked since 1955
Census
Johathan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 556 people with the first name Johathan, which placed it at #19,177 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
#19,177
National first-name rank
People counted
556
556 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
53.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Johathan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johathan is White at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and Black (13.8%). 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 Johathan 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 Johathan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White53.4% · 297
- Hispanic or Latino26.8% · 149
- Black or African American13.8% · 77
- Two or more races2.5% · 14
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 7
Popularity
Johathan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Johathan from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 975 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Johathan 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 Johathan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Johathans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 19 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Johathan, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 32 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Johathan
The name Johathan is derived from the Hebrew name Yonatan, which means "Yahweh has given" or "the gift of God." It is a biblical name that first appeared in the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically in the books of Samuel and Chronicles. The name's origins can be traced back to ancient Israel around the 11th century BCE.
Johathan was the name of the son of King Saul and a close friend of David, who later became the second king of Israel. The story of their friendship and Johathan's loyalty to David is a significant part of the biblical narrative. Johathan's character is portrayed as a brave warrior and a man of honor and integrity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Johathan outside of the Bible is in the Dead Sea Scrolls, which date back to the 3rd century BCE. These ancient Jewish manuscripts contain several references to individuals named Johathan, suggesting that the name was in use among the Jewish community at that time.
In the Middle Ages, the name Johathan gained popularity across Europe, particularly in England and France. It was often spelled as "Jonathan" or variations like "Jonathon" and "Jonatan." During this period, several notable figures bore the name, including Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), the Irish satirist and author of "Gulliver's Travels."
Another famous Johathan in history was Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a prominent American philosopher, theologian, and revivalist preacher during the Great Awakening in the 18th century. His sermons and writings had a significant impact on the religious landscape of colonial America.
In the 19th century, Jonathan Trumbull (1710-1785) served as the Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolutionary War and was a close friend and adviser to George Washington. Johathan Ames (1805-1887) was an American manufacturer and philanthropist who co-founded the Ames Manufacturing Company, a successful tool and shovel company.
The 20th century saw the rise of Johathan Winters (1925-2013), an American comedian, actor, and artist known for his improvisational skills and versatile character roles. Johathan Demme (1944-2017) was an acclaimed American filmmaker and director, best known for films like "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Philadelphia."
People
Johathan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Johathan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Johathan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Johathan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,840 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Johathan 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 186,280 US residents.
Is Johathan a common name?
We classify Johathan as "Rare". It ranks above 93.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,936 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Johathan most popular?
The single biggest year for Johathan was 1988, when 114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Johathan is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Johathan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 556 people with the name Johathan, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,177 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 Johathan 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 Johathan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Johathan appears almost entirely male. Of the 558 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Johathan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Johathan is White at 53.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.8%) and Black (13.8%). 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 Johathan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Johathan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 53.4% (297 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 Johathan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Johathan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Johathan 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 Johathan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Johathan 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 Johathan 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 are named Johathan?
See how many people share the name Johathan on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.