Nethanel
A masculine name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has given".
Name Census estimates that about 47 living Americans carry the first name Nethanel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nethanel today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nethanel births was 2005 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nethanel. 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 Nethanel. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
47
~ 1 in 7,292,645 Americans
Peak year
2005
8 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2017 SSA rank
#11,773
Tracked since 2001
Popularity
Nethanel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nethanel from the 2000s through to the 2010s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 36 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Nethanel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nethanel 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 Nethanel 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 Nethanel
Nethanel is a Hebrew name derived from the roots "Nathan" meaning "given" and "El" referring to God, thus signifying "God has given." The name has its origins in ancient Semitic cultures and is found in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) dating back to the 6th century BCE.
The name first appears in the Book of Numbers, one of the earliest books of the Bible, referring to a prince from the tribe of Issachar. In 1 Chronicles, a Levite by the name of Nethanel is mentioned as having assisted in bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem during the reign of King David around 1000 BCE.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Nethanel ben Zuar, a leader of the tribe of Issachar who participated in the conquest of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, as described in the Book of Joshua in the 13th century BCE. The name also appears in the Book of Ezra, referring to a Levite who returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity in the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, the name Nethanel has been borne by several notable figures. In the 11th century, Nethanel ben Al-Fayyumi was a prominent Jewish poet and philosopher from Egypt. Nethanel Hawthorne (1789-1864) was an American writer and author of the famous novel "The Scarlet Letter."
Another bearer of the name was Nethanel Herz Homberg (1749-1841), a German Jewish financier and philanthropist who played a significant role in the emancipation of Jews in Prussia. Nethanel Wilner (1847-1920) was a prominent Zionist leader and one of the founders of the World Zionist Organization, working alongside Theodor Herzl in the late 19th century.
In more recent times, Nethanel Aloni (1939-2021) was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset, serving as a minister in several Israeli governments in the late 20th century.
People
Nethanel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nethanel 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
Nethanel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nethanel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 47 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nethanel 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 7,292,645 US residents.
Is Nethanel a common name?
We classify Nethanel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 53.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nethanel most popular?
The single biggest year for Nethanel was 2005, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nethanel is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Nethanel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nethanel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nethanel 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 Nethanel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nethanel 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 Nethanel 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Nethanel?
You can see how many people share the name Nethanel on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.