Naftoli
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "my struggle with God".
Name Census estimates that about 445 living Americans carry the first name Naftoli. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Naftoli today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Naftoli births was 2007 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Naftoli. 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 Naftoli with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
445
~ 1 in 770,234 Americans
Peak year
2007
16 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,068
Tracked since 1976
Census
Naftoli in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 325 people with the first name Naftoli, which placed it at #27,889 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
#27,889
National first-name rank
People counted
325
325 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
99.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Naftoli
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naftoli is White at 99.4%. The next largest groups are Black (0.3%) and Hispanic (0.3%). 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 Naftoli 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 Naftoli at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White99.4% · 323
- Black or African American0.3% · 1
- Hispanic or Latino0.3% · 1
Popularity
Naftoli: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Naftoli from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 124 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Naftoli remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Naftoli 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 Naftoli during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Naftolis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Naftoli
Naftoli is a given name derived from the Hebrew language, with its roots tracing back to the biblical era. It is a masculine form of the name Naphtali, which was one of the twelve tribes of ancient Israel mentioned in the Old Testament.
The name Naphtali has its origins in the Hebrew word "патал" (pathal), which means "to wrestle" or "to struggle." This name was given to one of the sons of Jacob and Bilhah, as described in the Book of Genesis. The tribe of Naphtali was known for its valor and strength in battle.
The earliest recorded use of the name Naftoli can be found in various Jewish texts and historical records from the Middle Ages. During this period, it was a popular name among Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland, Lithuania, and Ukraine.
One of the notable historical figures bearing the name Naftoli was Naftoli Hertz Weisel (1725-1805), a renowned Talmudic scholar and author from Vilna, Lithuania. He wrote numerous works on Jewish law and tradition, including the famous commentary on the Shulchan Arukh, a codification of Jewish religious laws.
Another prominent individual with the name Naftoli was Naftoli Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (1817-1893), also known as the Netziv. He was a renowned Talmudic scholar, rosh yeshiva (head of a Talmudic academy), and author from Volozhin, Belarus. His influential works on Torah study and Jewish thought continue to be studied and revered in Orthodox Jewish communities today.
In the 19th century, Naftoli Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1874) was a prominent rabbi and Zionist leader from Thorn, Prussia (now Toruń, Poland). He advocated for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel and is considered one of the pioneers of the Zionist movement.
Naftoli Herz Imber (1856-1909), a Hebrew poet and writer, is credited with writing the lyrics of "Hatikvah," the national anthem of Israel. Born in Zloczow, Galicia (now Ukraine), his work played a significant role in the cultural and national revival of the Jewish people.
Naftoli Tzvi Yehuda Twersky (1888-1949), also known as the Chelmer Rebbe, was a prominent Hasidic rabbi and leader of the Chelmers Hasidic dynasty. He was born in Chelmno, Poland, and was known for his profound wisdom and teachings on Jewish mysticism and spirituality.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who bore the name Naftoli throughout history, showcasing its rich cultural and religious significance within the Jewish tradition.
People
Naftoli + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Naftoli 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
Naftoli: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Naftoli?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 445 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Naftoli 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 770,234 US residents.
Is Naftoli a common name?
We classify Naftoli as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 453 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Naftoli most popular?
The single biggest year for Naftoli was 2007, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Naftoli 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 Naftoli in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 325 people with the name Naftoli, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,889 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 Naftoli 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 Naftoli?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Naftoli appears almost entirely male. Of the 332 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Naftoli?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Naftoli is White at 99.4%. The next largest groups are Black (0.3%) and Hispanic (0.3%). 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 Naftoli most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Naftoli in the 2020 Census, accounting for 99.4% (323 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 Naftoli in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Naftoli a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Naftoli 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 Naftoli still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Naftoli 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 Naftoli 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 Naftoli?
Find out how many people share the name Naftoli on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.