Nathon
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "Gift of God".
Name Census estimates that about 1,298 living Americans carry the first name Nathon. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nathon today is around 33 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nathon births was 1990 (47 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nathon. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 264,063 Americans
Peak year
1990
47 babies that year
Average age
33
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,555
Tracked since 1906
Popularity
Nathon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nathon from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 363 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nathon 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 Nathon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nathons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Michigan recorded the most babies named Nathon, while Missouri, Washington, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 36 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nathon
The name Nathon is a variant spelling of the Hebrew name Nathan, which means "he gave" or "gift of God." It has its origins in ancient Israel and the Hebrew Bible, where it was borne by the prophet Nathan, who played a pivotal role in the reigns of King David and King Solomon around the 10th century BCE.
Nathan appears in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 1 Chronicles. He was a trusted advisor to King David and famously confronted him about his affair with Bathsheba. Nathan also played a role in the succession of Solomon as king after David's death.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the variant spelling Nathon can be found in the medieval English text "The Wycliffite Bible," which dates back to the late 14th century. This version of the Bible uses the spelling "Nathon" when referring to the prophet Nathan.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Nathon or its variants. In the 17th century, Nathon Pynchon was an English-born American colonist who founded Springfield, Massachusetts in 1636. Nathon Bangs was a 19th-century American politician who served as the 13th Governor of Massachusetts from 1851 to 1854.
In the realm of literature, Nathon Hill Wright was a 19th-century American writer and editor who published several works, including "The Life of Pauline Cushman" in 1865. Nathon Jasper Whiting, born in 1824, was a notable American educator and author who wrote several textbooks on mathematics and astronomy.
Another notable figure was Nathon Farlow, a 19th-century American farmer and politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate in the 1840s and 1850s.
While the name Nathon is not as common as its counterpart Nathan, it has a rich historical legacy rooted in the ancient Hebrew tradition and has been borne by individuals across various fields throughout the centuries.
People
Nathon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nathon 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
Nathon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nathon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,298 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nathon 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 264,063 US residents.
Is Nathon a common name?
We classify Nathon as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,439 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nathon most popular?
The single biggest year for Nathon was 1990, when 47 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nathon is about 33 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Nathon a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nathon 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.