Jonnathan
A masculine name derived from the Hebrew name Yonatan, meaning "God has given" or "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,199 living Americans carry the first name Jonnathan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Jonnathan today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jonnathan births was 1999 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jonnathan. 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
1.2K
~ 1 in 285,867 Americans
Peak year
1999
50 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,984
Tracked since 1968
Census
Jonnathan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,424 people with the first name Jonnathan, which placed it at #9,667 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
#9,667
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,424 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
69.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jonnathan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonnathan is Hispanic at 69.8%. The next largest groups are White (19.5%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Jonnathan 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 Jonnathan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino69.8% · 994
- White19.5% · 277
- Black or African American5.7% · 81
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 50
- Two or more races1.4% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 2
Popularity
Jonnathan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jonnathan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 368 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jonnathan 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 Jonnathan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jonnathans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jonnathan, while Illinois, New Jersey, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 58 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jonnathan
The name Jonnathan is derived from the Hebrew name Yonatan, which means "Yahweh has given" or "gift of God." Its roots can be traced back to ancient Israel and the biblical period around the 10th century BCE. In the Old Testament, Yonatan was the name of the son of King Saul and a close friend of David. This name gained popularity among Jewish communities and later spread to other parts of the world.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jonnathan can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism written between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE. It mentions a person named Jonnathan ben Uziel, a renowned scholar and translator of the Prophets into Aramaic. This version of the name with the double "n" likely emerged as a variant spelling during the later centuries of the common era.
In the Middle Ages, the name Jonnathan appeared in several European contexts, often associated with Jewish communities. One notable figure was Jonnathan ha-Cohen, a Jewish scholar and physician who lived in the 11th century in what is now southern Italy. He authored medical texts and was known for his expertise in treating the sick.
As the name spread beyond its Hebrew origins, it underwent various spelling variations across different languages and cultures. In the 16th century, the English playwright William Shakespeare used the spelling "Jonnathan" in his play "The Life and Death of King John," where it was given to a character who was a messenger.
Another prominent figure with this name was Jonnathan Swift (1667-1745), the Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, and poet best known for his works such as "Gulliver's Travels" and "A Modest Proposal." His writings offered biting social commentary and influenced the development of satire as a literary genre.
In the 19th century, Jonnathan Oldenbuck was the name of a fictional character in Sir Walter Scott's novel "The Antiquary." This eccentric and passionate antiquarian collector represented the growing fascination with antiquities and historical artifacts during that period.
The name Jonnathan has been found in various cultural contexts throughout history, reflecting its Hebrew roots and its subsequent adaptation and use across different societies and time periods. While its popularity has fluctuated over the centuries, the name continues to hold significance for many individuals and communities around the world.
People
Jonnathan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jonnathan 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
Jonnathan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jonnathan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,199 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jonnathan 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 285,867 US residents.
Is Jonnathan a common name?
We classify Jonnathan as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,229 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jonnathan most popular?
The single biggest year for Jonnathan was 1999, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jonnathan is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jonnathan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,424 people with the name Jonnathan, or 0.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,667 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 Jonnathan 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 Jonnathan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Jonnathan appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,429 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Jonnathan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jonnathan is Hispanic at 69.8%. The next largest groups are White (19.5%) and Black (5.7%). 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 Jonnathan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Jonnathan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.8% (994 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 Jonnathan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jonnathan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Jonnathan 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 Jonnathan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jonnathan 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 Jonnathan 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 Jonnathan?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Jonnathan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.