Nathenial
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 40 living Americans carry the first name Nathenial. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nathenial today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nathenial births was 1995 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nathenial. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nathenial. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
40
~ 1 in 8,568,858 Americans
Peak year
1995
6 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2009 SSA rank
#13,880
Tracked since 1964
Census
Nathenial in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 126 people with the first name Nathenial, which placed it at #49,344 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
#49,344
National first-name rank
People counted
126
126 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nathenial
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nathenial is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (27.0%) and Hispanic (18.3%). 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 Nathenial 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 Nathenial at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.2% · 62
- Black or African American27.0% · 34
- Hispanic or Latino18.3% · 23
- Two or more races4.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 2
Popularity
Nathenial: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nathenial from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 16 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nathenial 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 Nathenial during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nathenial
The name Nathenial is derived from the Hebrew name Natan'el, which means "gift of God" or "given by God." It has its roots in ancient Hebrew culture and can be traced back to biblical times.
The name Natan'el appears in the New Testament as the name of one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of John, Natheniel is introduced as a follower of Jesus and is described as a man "in whom there is no guile."
The earliest recorded use of the name dates back to the 1st century AD, when it was used among Jewish communities in the Middle East. Over the centuries, the name spread to other parts of the world, particularly in Europe and the Americas, where it took on various spellings and variations, including Nathaniel, Nathanael, and Nathenial.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Nathenial was Nathaniel Hawthorne, the renowned American novelist and short story writer who lived from 1804 to 1864. His works, such as "The Scarlet Letter" and "The House of the Seven Gables," have become classics of American literature.
Another notable Nathenial was Sir Nathaniel Bacon, an English merchant and colonist who played a significant role in the early settlement of Virginia in the 17th century. He was involved in the Virginia Company and served as a member of the Council of State during the English Civil War.
Nathenial Bowditch, an American mathematician, navigator, and astronomer, who lived from 1773 to 1838, made important contributions to the field of navigation and published the influential work "The New American Practical Navigator."
In the realm of politics, Nathenial Macon, an American statesman and Revolutionary War veteran who lived from 1757 to 1837, served as a U.S. Representative and Senator for North Carolina and was also the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Another historical figure named Nathenial was Nathaniel Philbrick, an American historian and author born in 1956, best known for his award-winning books on maritime history, including "In the Heart of the Sea" and "Mayflower."
People
Nathenial + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nathenial 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
Nathenial: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nathenial?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 40 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nathenial 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 8,568,858 US residents.
Is Nathenial a common name?
We classify Nathenial as "Very Rare". It ranks above 51% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 42 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nathenial most popular?
The single biggest year for Nathenial was 1995, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nathenial is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nathenial in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 126 people with the name Nathenial, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #49,344 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 Nathenial 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 Nathenial?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nathenial leans strongly male. 121 people counted with this name were male (96.8%), compared with 4 female bearers (3.2%). 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 Nathenial?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nathenial is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Black (27.0%) and Hispanic (18.3%). 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 Nathenial most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nathenial in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (62 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 Nathenial in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nathenial a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nathenial 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 Nathenial still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nathenial 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 Nathenial 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 share the name Nathenial?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.