Naftali
A masculine Hebrew name meaning "my struggle" or "my wrestling".
Name Census estimates that about 1,918 living Americans carry the first name Naftali. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Naftali today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naftali births was 2018 (83 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naftali. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Naftali with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,704 Americans
Peak year
2018
83 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,066
Tracked since 1951
Census
Naftali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,482 people with the first name Naftali, which placed it at #9,384 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
#9,384
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,482 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naftali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naftali is White at 91.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Black (2.6%). 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 Naftali 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 Naftali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.6% · 1,357
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 64
- Black or African American2.6% · 38
- Two or more races1.0% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 8
Popularity
Naftali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naftali from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 550 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Naftali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naftali 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 Naftali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Naftalis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, Maryland recorded the most babies named Naftali, while Maryland, New Jersey, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 519 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Naftali
The name Naftali has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, and can be traced back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "naftulim," which means "wrestlings" or "struggles." The name is believed to have originated during the biblical period, and is associated with the biblical figure Naphtali, one of the twelve sons of Jacob.
In the Book of Genesis, Naphtali is described as the sixth son of Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid. The name Naphtali is mentioned several times in the Hebrew Bible, including in the blessings that Jacob bestowed upon his sons before his death. The tribe of Naphtali, one of the twelve tribes of Israel, was named after him.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Naftali can be found in the Hebrew Bible, specifically in the Book of Genesis. Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore this name, including:
1. Naftali Hertz Wessely (1725-1805), a Jewish writer and educator who played a significant role in the Haskalah, the Jewish Enlightenment movement.
2. Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin (1817-1893), also known as the Netziv, a prominent Lithuanian rabbi and Talmudic scholar.
3. Naftali Herz Imber (1856-1909), a Hebrew poet and writer who authored the lyrics of "Hatikvah," the national anthem of Israel.
4. Naftali Trop (1888-1966), a Ukrainian-born American Hebrew scholar and educator who served as the executive vice president of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.
5. Naftali Frenkel (1952-2014), an Israeli businessman and activist who worked tirelessly to secure the release of Israeli soldiers held captive by Hamas.
These individuals hailed from various backgrounds and time periods, but they all shared the name Naftali, which has its roots in the ancient Hebrew language and culture. The name has endured for centuries, serving as a reminder of the rich heritage and history associated with its origins.
People
Naftali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naftali 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
Naftali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naftali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,918 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naftali 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 178,704 US residents.
Is Naftali a common name?
We classify Naftali as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,965 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naftali most popular?
The single biggest year for Naftali was 2018, when 83 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naftali is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Naftali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,482 people with the name Naftali, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,384 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 Naftali 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 Naftali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naftali leans strongly male. 1,443 people counted with this name were male (97.3%), compared with 40 female bearers (2.7%). 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 Naftali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naftali is White at 91.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.3%) and Black (2.6%). 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 Naftali most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Naftali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.6% (1,357 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 Naftali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naftali a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Naftali 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 Naftali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naftali 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 Naftali 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 called Naftali?
Find out how many people share the name Naftali on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.