Jonahtan
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Yahweh has given".
Name Census estimates that about 180 living Americans carry the first name Jonahtan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jonahtan today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jonahtan births was 1987 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jonahtan. 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
180
~ 1 in 1,904,191 Americans
Peak year
1987
18 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2000 SSA rank
#11,224
Tracked since 1977
Census
Jonahtan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 116 people with the first name Jonahtan, which placed it at #51,012 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
#51,012
National first-name rank
People counted
116
116 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
66.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jonahtan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonahtan is Hispanic at 66.4%. The next largest groups are White (27.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.3%). 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 Jonahtan 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 Jonahtan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino66.4% · 77
- White27.6% · 32
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 5
- Black or African American1.7% · 2
Popularity
Jonahtan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jonahtan from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 131 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
Jonahtan 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 Jonahtan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jonahtans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jonahtan
The name Jonahtan is derived from the Hebrew name Yonatan, which means "Yahweh has given" or "gift of Yahweh." It has its origins in the Hebrew Bible, where it was borne by several figures, including the son of King Saul and a close friend of David.
The earliest recorded appearance of the name Jonahtan can be traced back to the Old Testament of the Bible, particularly in the Book of Samuel. One of the most notable biblical figures with this name was Jonathan, the son of King Saul, who formed a deep friendship with David despite the enmity between their fathers.
Throughout history, the name Jonahtan has been used by various notable individuals. One of the earliest was Jonathan the Hasmonean, a leader of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BCE. Another significant figure was Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), a prominent American philosopher, theologian, and revivalist preacher during the Great Awakening.
In the field of literature, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist and author best known for his works "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal." Jonathan Franzen (born 1959) is a contemporary American novelist and essayist, recognized for his critically acclaimed novels, such as "The Corrections" and "Freedom."
In the realm of politics, Jonathan Trumbull (1710-1785) was an American statesman who served as the Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolutionary War. More recently, Jonathan Pollard (born 1954) is a former American intelligence analyst who was convicted of spying for Israel and served 30 years in prison.
While the name Jonahtan has undergone various spellings and variations over time, such as Jonathan, Jonathon, and Jonthan, its Hebrew roots and biblical significance have endured, making it a timeless and meaningful choice for many parents.
People
Jonahtan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jonahtan 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
Jonahtan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jonahtan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 180 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jonahtan 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 1,904,191 US residents.
Is Jonahtan a common name?
We classify Jonahtan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 188 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jonahtan most popular?
The single biggest year for Jonahtan was 1987, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jonahtan is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jonahtan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 116 people with the name Jonahtan, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #51,012 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 Jonahtan 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 Jonahtan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jonahtan leans strongly male. 118 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Jonahtan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonahtan is Hispanic at 66.4%. The next largest groups are White (27.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.3%). 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 Jonahtan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jonahtan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.4% (77 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 Jonahtan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jonahtan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jonahtan 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 Jonahtan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jonahtan 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 Jonahtan 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 the name Jonahtan?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Jonahtan at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.