Nadav
A Hebrew masculine name meaning "generous" or "liberal".
Name Census estimates that about 744 living Americans carry the first name Nadav. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nadav today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nadav births was 2016 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nadav. 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
744
~ 1 in 460,691 Americans
Peak year
2016
32 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,689
Tracked since 1976
Popularity
Nadav: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nadav from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 251 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nadav remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nadav 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 Nadav during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nadavs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nadav
The name Nadav is a Hebrew name with roots dating back to ancient Semitic languages. It is derived from the Hebrew word "nadav," which means "generous" or "noble." The name's earliest known origins can be traced back to the Biblical period in ancient Israel.
In the Hebrew Bible, Nadav is mentioned as the name of the eldest son of Aaron, the first High Priest of the Israelites. According to the Book of Leviticus, Nadav and his brother Abihu were priests who were struck down by God for offering "strange fire" in the Tabernacle. This incident served as a cautionary tale about the importance of following God's commandments and respecting sacred rituals.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Nadav was Nadav ben Aminadav, a prince from the Tribe of Judah who lived during the reign of King David in the 10th century BCE. He was mentioned in the Book of Samuel as a prominent figure in David's court.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Nadav. In the 2nd century BCE, Nadav was the name of a Jewish rebel leader who fought against the Seleucid Empire during the Maccabean Revolt. Another Nadav was a prominent Jewish scholar and poet who lived in Spain during the 11th century CE.
In more recent times, Nadav Guedj was an Israeli diplomat and ambassador who served as Israel's permanent representative to the United Nations from 1967 to 1970. Nadav Kander is a contemporary Israeli-born photographer and artist known for his portraits and landscape photography.
Nadav Lapid is an Israeli filmmaker and writer who has directed several critically acclaimed films, including Synonyms, which won the Golden Bear award at the 2019 Berlin International Film Festival. Nadav Naor is an Israeli businessman and entrepreneur who co-founded the social navigation app Waze, which was later acquired by Google.
People
Nadav + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nadav as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nadav: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nadav?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 744 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nadav 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 460,691 US residents.
Is Nadav a common name?
We classify Nadav as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 754 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nadav most popular?
The single biggest year for Nadav was 2016, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nadav is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nadav a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nadav 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.
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.