Nathanael
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 21,150 living Americans carry the first name Nathanael. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nathanael today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nathanael births was 2000 (609 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nathanael. 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
21K
~ 1 in 16,206 Americans
Peak year
2000
609 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#674
Tracked since 1915
Gender
Gender distribution for Nathanael
Out of the 21,791 babies given the name Nathanael since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Nathanael as a male name
- Ranked #674 in 2024
- 404 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (609 births)
Nathanael as a female name
- Ranked #16,878 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1987 (7 births)
Popularity
Nathanael: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nathanael from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,711 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nathanael remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nathanael 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 Nathanael during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nathanaels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Nathanael, while New Hampshire, Montana, Delaware recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 418 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nathanael
The name Nathanael has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a biblical name derived from the Hebrew words "נתן" (Natan) meaning "given" and "אל" (El) meaning "God", forming the combined meaning of "gift of God".
Nathanael is the name used in some translations of the Bible for one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who is also referred to as Bartholomew in other translations. He is first mentioned in the Gospel of John, where Jesus recognizes him as "an Israelite in whom there is no deceit".
The earliest recorded use of the name Nathanael dates back to ancient biblical times, appearing in the New Testament of the Bible. Apart from the apostle Nathanael, one of the first notable individuals with this name was Nathanael Durand, a French Protestant theologian and author born in 1590.
In the 17th century, Nathanael Carpenter (1589-1628) was an English writer and philosopher. Nathanael Greene (1742-1786) was a major general in the American Revolutionary War, known for his successful command in the Southern campaigns.
Nathanael West (1903-1940) was an American author and satirist, best known for his novel "The Day of the Locust". Nathanael Herreshoff (1848-1938) was a renowned American naval architect and engineer, known for his innovative yacht designs.
Nathanael Hawthorne (1804-1864) was a famous American novelist and short story writer, author of "The Scarlet Letter" and other notable works. His name was originally spelled Nathaniel, but he added the "a" to make it more distinct.
While the name Nathanael has biblical origins and historical references, it has been used across various cultures and time periods, with different spellings and variations, such as Nathaniel, Nathanial, Nathanael, or Nathanël.
People
Nathanael + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nathanael 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
Nathanael: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nathanael?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 21,150 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nathanael 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 16,206 US residents.
Is Nathanael a common name?
We classify Nathanael as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,791 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nathanael most popular?
The single biggest year for Nathanael was 2000, when 609 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nathanael is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nathanael a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Nathanael 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.