Nathan
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "He gave" or "Gift from God".
Name Census estimates that about 541,143 living Americans carry the first name Nathan. It sits at #62 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nathan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nathan births was 2004 (14,695 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Adam (540,647).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nathan. 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 Nathan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Nathan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 1,769 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
541K
~ 1 in 633 Americans
Peak year
2004
14,695 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#62
Tracked since 1880
Census
Nathan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 481,630 people with the first name Nathan, which placed it at #93 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
#93
National first-name rank
People counted
482K
481,630 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
159.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nathan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nathan is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.1%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Nathan 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 Nathan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.2% · 347,744
- Hispanic or Latino13.1% · 63,261
- Black or African American5.4% · 26,169
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.3% · 20,815
- Two or more races4.2% · 20,386
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3,255
Gender
Gender distribution for Nathan
Out of the 584,253 babies given the name Nathan since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Nathan as a male name
- Ranked #62 in 2024
- 5,010 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (14,633 births)
Nathan as a female name
- Ranked #11,807 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1985 (89 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nathan appears almost entirely male. Of the 481,621 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Nathan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nathan 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 135,107 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
Nathan 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 Nathan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nathans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Nathan, while Wyoming, Delaware, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 11,315 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nathan
The name Nathan has Hebrew origins and can be traced back to the biblical era. It is derived from the Hebrew word "נָתָן" (Natan), which means "he gave" or "giver". This name is found in the Old Testament, where it was borne by the prophet Nathan who lived during the reign of King David.
In the biblical account, Nathan played a crucial role in confronting King David over his affair with Bathsheba. He used a parable to convict David of his sin, leading the king to repentance. Nathan is also known for his involvement in the succession of King Solomon to the throne.
While the name Nathan has its roots in the Hebrew language, it has been widely adopted across various cultures and religions over the centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of this name outside of the biblical context is Nathan the Babylonian, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 2nd century CE.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nathan. In the 12th century, Nathan ben Yehiel of Rome was a prominent Jewish scholar and author of the Arukh, an important Hebrew dictionary and lexicon. Another notable figure was Nathan Rothschild (1777-1836), a wealthy banker and financier from the renowned Rothschild family.
In more recent times, the name Nathan has been associated with several influential individuals. Nathan Milstein (1904-1992) was a renowned Russian-American violinist and one of the most celebrated musicians of the 20th century. Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) was a famous British banker and financier who played a significant role in financing the Duke of Wellington's campaign against Napoleon.
Other notable individuals named Nathan include Nathan Hale (1755-1776), an American Revolutionary War soldier and spy; Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877), a controversial Confederate Army general during the American Civil War; and Nathan Stark (1923-2012), a Canadian ice hockey player and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.
The name Nathan has endured through the ages, transcending cultural and religious boundaries. Its biblical origins and historical significance have contributed to its widespread use and enduring popularity as a given name across various societies.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Nathan
People
Nathan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nathan 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
Nathan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nathan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 541,143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nathan 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 633 US residents.
Is Nathan a common name?
We classify Nathan as "Very Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 584,253 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nathan most popular?
The single biggest year for Nathan was 2004, when 14,695 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nathan is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nathan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 481,630 people with the name Nathan, or 159.46 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #93 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 Nathan 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 Nathan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nathan appears almost entirely male. Of the 481,621 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Nathan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nathan is White at 72.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.1%) and Black (5.4%). 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 Nathan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nathan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.2% (347,744 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 Nathan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nathan a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Nathan 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 Nathan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nathan 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 Nathan 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 Nathan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.