Yehonatan
The name of Hebrew origin meaning "God has given"
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Yehonatan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yehonatan today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yehonatan births was 2015 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yehonatan. 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 Yehonatan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Yehonatan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
2015
14 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2021 SSA rank
#12,081
Tracked since 1991
Popularity
Yehonatan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yehonatan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 51 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yehonatan 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 Yehonatan 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 Yehonatan
The name Yehonatan is a Hebrew name derived from the Biblical Hebrew name Yonatan, meaning "Yahweh has given" or "gift of God." It is a combination of two Hebrew words: "Yeho" (a shortened form of the name Yahweh, the name of God in the Hebrew Bible) and "natan" (meaning "to give").
The name Yonatan first appears in the Hebrew Bible, where it is the name of the son of King Saul and the closest friend of David. Their friendship is described in the Books of Samuel, and Yonatan is portrayed as a loyal and noble figure who defies his father's wishes to protect David.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Yehonatan was Yonatan ben Uzziel, a scholar and student of Hillel the Elder who lived in the 1st century BCE. He is known for his Targum (Aramaic translation and commentary) on the Prophets.
Another notable figure was Yonatan HaCohen, a Talmudic scholar who lived in the 3rd century CE and is mentioned in the Talmud for his wisdom and piety.
During the Middle Ages, the name Yonatan was occasionally used by Jewish communities in Europe, but it became more popular after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. One famous bearer of the name was Yonatan Netanyahu (1946-1976), an Israeli military officer and the older brother of Benjamin Netanyahu, who was killed in action during the Entebbe hostage rescue operation.
Other notable individuals with the name Yehonatan include Yonatan Shapira (born 1975), an Israeli activist and former soldier who founded the organization Breaking the Silence to expose alleged human rights violations by the Israeli military in the occupied territories, and Yonatan Razel (born 1976), an Israeli singer-songwriter and actor.
In recent years, the name Yehonatan has gained popularity among Jewish communities around the world, particularly in Israel and the United States, as a way to honor the Biblical figure and connect with the Hebrew language and Jewish heritage.
People
Yehonatan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yehonatan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yehonatan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yehonatan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yehonatan 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 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Yehonatan a common name?
We classify Yehonatan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 89 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yehonatan most popular?
The single biggest year for Yehonatan was 2015, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yehonatan is about 13 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 Yehonatan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Yehonatan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yehonatan 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 Yehonatan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Yehonatan 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 Yehonatan 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 people are named Yehonatan?
Find out how many Americans are named Yehonatan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.