Jonatha
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 311 living Americans carry the first name Jonatha. It is a predominantly male name (91.5% of registrations). The average person named Jonatha today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jonatha births was 1986 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jonatha. 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
311
~ 1 in 1,102,104 Americans
Peak year
1986
33 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1996 SSA rank
#6,142
Tracked since 1944
Census
Jonatha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 597 people with the first name Jonatha, which placed it at #18,138 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
#18,138
National first-name rank
People counted
597
597 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jonatha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonatha is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (40.7%) and Black (9.9%). 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 Jonatha 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 Jonatha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.7% · 255
- Hispanic or Latino40.7% · 243
- Black or African American9.9% · 59
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 22
- Two or more races2.8% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Jonatha
Jonatha leans heavily male at 91.5% of total registrations, but 29 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Jonatha as a male name
- Ranked #9,723 in 1996
- 5 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1986 (33 births)
Jonatha as a female name
- Ranked #6,142 in 1954
- 5 female births in 1954
- Peak: 1946 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jonatha leans strongly male. 482 people counted with this name were male (81.4%), compared with 110 female bearers (18.6%).
Popularity
Jonatha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jonatha from the 1940s through to the 1990s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 220 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
Jonatha 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 Jonatha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jonathas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jonatha, while New York, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jonatha
The name Jonatha has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name Yonatan, which means "Yahweh has given" or "the gift of Yahweh." The name is a combination of the Hebrew words "Yahweh," referring to God, and "natan," meaning "to give."
One of the most prominent historical references to the name Jonatha can be found in the Bible. In the Old Testament, Jonatha (also spelled Jonathan) was the name of the son of King Saul and the devoted friend of David. His story is recounted in the Books of Samuel, where he is portrayed as a loyal and courageous warrior who stood by David despite his father's opposition.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Jonatha can be traced back to ancient Hebrew texts and inscriptions. Over the centuries, the name has been used across various cultures and regions, sometimes with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation.
Notable individuals with the name Jonatha throughout history include:
1. Jonatha Ben Uziel (1st century BCE), a Jewish scholar and translator of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic.
2. Jonatha Swift (1667-1745), an Anglo-Irish satirist and author best known for his works "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal."
3. Jonatha Trumbull (1710-1785), an American statesman who served as the Governor of Connecticut during the American Revolutionary War.
4. Jonatha Dickinson (1663-1722), a Quaker writer and religious leader in colonial America.
5. Jonatha Cainer (1957-2016), a British astrologer and author known for his daily horoscope columns.
While the name Jonatha has maintained a presence throughout history, its popularity and usage have varied across different regions and time periods. Regardless of its fluctuations, the name continues to carry the rich cultural and historical significance of its Hebrew origins, serving as a testament to the enduring influence of ancient traditions on modern naming practices.
People
Jonatha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jonatha 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
Jonatha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jonatha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 311 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jonatha 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 1,102,104 US residents.
Is Jonatha a common name?
We classify Jonatha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 340 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jonatha most popular?
The single biggest year for Jonatha was 1986, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jonatha is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jonatha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 597 people with the name Jonatha, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,138 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 Jonatha 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 Jonatha?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jonatha leans strongly male. 482 people counted with this name were male (81.4%), compared with 110 female bearers (18.6%). 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 Jonatha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonatha is White at 42.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (40.7%) and Black (9.9%). 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 Jonatha most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jonatha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.7% (255 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 Jonatha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jonatha a male name?
Yes, 91.5% of people registered as Jonatha 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 Jonatha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jonatha 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 Jonatha 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 Jonatha as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Jonatha, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.