Natalie
A feminine given name of Latin origin meaning "birthday".
Name Census estimates that about 344,017 living Americans carry the first name Natalie. It sits at #73 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Natalie today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Natalie births was 2006 (10,969 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Jesse (340,514).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Natalie. 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 Natalie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Natalie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 769 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
344K
~ 1 in 996 Americans
Peak year
2006
10,969 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#73
Tracked since 1880
Census
Natalie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 324,016 people with the first name Natalie, which placed it at #158 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
#158
National first-name rank
People counted
324K
324,016 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
107.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Natalie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natalie is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.1%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Natalie 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 Natalie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 202,308
- Hispanic or Latino25.1% · 81,220
- Black or African American5.2% · 16,954
- Two or more races3.8% · 12,422
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 9,542
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,570
Gender
Gender distribution for Natalie
Out of the 377,072 babies given the name Natalie since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Natalie as a male name
- Ranked #10,554 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (33 births)
Natalie as a female name
- Ranked #73 in 2024
- 3,114 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (10,950 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natalie appears almost entirely female. Of the 324,013 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Natalie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Natalie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 95,245 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Natalie 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 Natalie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Natalies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Natalie, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7,301 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Natalie
The name Natalie is derived from the Latin word "natalis", which means "birthday" or "relating to birth". This name has its origins in ancient Rome and was initially used as a surname or a descriptive term for those born on Christmas Day or the feast day of Christ's nativity.
Natalie first emerged as a given name during the Middle Ages, particularly in France and Italy. It gained popularity among Christians, who often chose names with religious or Biblical connotations. The earliest recorded use of Natalie as a first name dates back to the 12th century in France.
In the 16th century, Natalie became a more common name in Western Europe, particularly in France and Italy. One of the earliest notable bearers of the name was Natalie Delayrue, a French Huguenot who lived from 1541 to 1620 and was known for her religious writings and poetry.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Natalie remained a popular name among the European aristocracy and nobility. One notable figure was Natalie Delorme, a French courtesan and writer who lived from 1633 to 1705 and was famous for her memoirs and literary salon.
In the 19th century, the name Natalie gained widespread popularity across Europe and beyond. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Natalie Pushkina, a Russian writer and the wife of the famous poet Alexander Pushkin, who lived from 1812 to 1863.
Another notable Natalie from this period was Natalie Brassova, a Russian prima ballerina who lived from 1880 to 1952 and was celebrated for her performances with the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg.
In the 20th century, Natalie continued to be a popular name in various countries. One of the most famous Natalies was Natalie Wood, an American actress who lived from 1938 to 1981 and starred in many classic films, including "Rebel Without a Cause" and "West Side Story".
Another well-known Natalie was Natalie Portman, an Israeli-American actress born in 1981, who rose to fame with her roles in films such as "Star Wars" and "Black Swan", for which she won an Academy Award.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Natalie
People
Natalie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Natalie 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
Natalie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Natalie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 344,017 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Natalie 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 996 US residents.
Is Natalie a common name?
We classify Natalie as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 377,072 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Natalie most popular?
The single biggest year for Natalie was 2006, when 10,969 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Natalie is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Natalie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 324,016 people with the name Natalie, or 107.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #158 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 Natalie 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 Natalie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Natalie appears almost entirely female. Of the 324,013 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Natalie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Natalie is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (25.1%) and Black (5.2%). 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 Natalie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Natalie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (202,308 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 Natalie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Natalie a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Natalie in the SSA data are female. 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 Natalie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Natalie 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 Natalie 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 named Natalie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.