Nate
A given name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 4,281 living Americans carry the first name Nate. It is a predominantly male name (93.6% of registrations). The average person named Nate today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nate births was 2007 (181 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nate. 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
4.3K
~ 1 in 80,064 Americans
Peak year
2007
181 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,570
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Nate
Nate leans heavily male at 93.6% of total registrations, but 301 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nate as a male name
- Ranked #1,570 in 2024
- 110 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (181 births)
Nate as a female name
- Ranked #16,669 in 2009
- 6 female births in 2009
- Peak: 1980 (23 births)
Popularity
Nate: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nate from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,191 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nate remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nate 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 Nate during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nates live
The SSA's state-level files cover 27 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Nate, while Wisconsin, Virginia, North Dakota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 57 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nate
The name Nate is a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Nathan, which means "he gave" or "gift of God." The name's origins can be traced back to ancient Israel, where it was a popular name among the Jewish population.
Nathan first appeared in the Bible as the name of a prophet who lived during the reign of King David. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the Davidic dynasty and is revered as a wise and influential figure in Jewish history.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nate can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Josephus, who lived in the first century AD. He mentioned a Jewish rebel named Nate who fought against the Roman Empire during the Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Nate or its variations. One of the most famous was Nate Saint (1923-1956), an American Christian missionary who was killed while attempting to make contact with the Huaorani people of Ecuador.
Another prominent figure was Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-1864), an American novelist and short story writer best known for his works such as "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of the Seven Gables."
Nate Thurmond (1941-2016) was a professional basketball player who played for the San Francisco Warriors and the Chicago Bulls in the NBA. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985.
Nate Dogg (1969-2011), whose real name was Nathaniel Dwayne Hale, was an American rapper and actor known for his collaborations with artists like Dr. Dre, Eminem, and Warren G.
Finally, Nate Parker (born 1979) is an American actor, writer, and director best known for his work on the 2016 film "The Birth of a Nation," which he co-wrote, co-produced, and starred in.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Nate
People
Nate + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nate 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
Nate: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nate?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,281 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nate 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 80,064 US residents.
Is Nate a common name?
We classify Nate as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,696 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nate most popular?
The single biggest year for Nate was 2007, when 181 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nate is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nate a male name?
Yes, 93.6% of people registered as Nate 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.