Nathan
given name · Latin script
Meaning: from the Hebrew personal name Natan, literally ‘given (by God)’
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/neɪθən/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Nathan is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country. In Australia it is the 100th most common given name.
- AUAustralia≈1 in 545(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 691
- NZNew Zealand≈1 in 985
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Nathan itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #480 (measured from records)
- 4 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 629 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 545 (inferred from the name graph)
481,621 people, 2020
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Australia, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
from the Hebrew personal name Natan, literally ‘given (by God)’.
Sources 1
- Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]
Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Nathan counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #206 | 481,621 | 1 in 691 | 481K | Nathan | 629 |
| FR France | — | ≈75,000 est. | ≈1 in 906 | 122K | Nathan | 16 |
| BR Brazil | — | 72,049as Natan | 1 in 2.9K | 72K | — | 9 |
| GB United Kingdom | #187 | ≈62,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.1K | 597 | Nathan | 354 |
| AU Australia | #100 | ≈47,000 est. | ≈1 in 545 | — | Nathan | 320 |
| NZ New Zealand | #140 | ≈5,000 est. | ≈1 in 985 | — | Nathan | 156 |
481,621 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024); INSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024); IBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Nathan is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
As a figure mentioned only in a genealogy, Nathan does not have a specific religious meaning attributed to him. His presence in the biblical text underscores the importance of lineage and the preservation of tribal history in ancient Israel, reflecting God's faithfulness in maintaining the line of Judah.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
A classic biblical name of Hebrew origin, Nathan means 'gift' or 'He has given'. While the most famous biblical Nathan was a prophet who advised King David, the name also appears for other individuals, such as this Nathan who is listed in the genealogy of the tribe of Judah.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Nathan is of Hebrew origin and means "he gave" or "gift of God." In the Bible, Nathan was a courageous and wise prophet who advised King David. The name is associated with faithfulness, guidance, and the courage to speak the truth.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The Hebrew name Nathan (נָתָן) means "he has given" or simply "gift". It is often considered a shortened form of names like Nethaniah ("Gift of Yahweh") or Jonathan ("Yahweh has given").
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Nathan means 'He has given' or 'Gift' in Hebrew. While popular primarily due to the biblical prophet, this specific Nathan represents loyalty and military service.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Nathan Söderblomb. 1866SESwedish clergyman and archbishop (1866–1931)
- Roscoe Poundb. 1870USnot in their usual nameAmerican legal scholar and educator (1870–1964)
- Nathan Georgeb. 1936USAmerican actor (1936–2017)
- Nathan Laneb. 1956USAmerican actor
- Nathan Jonesb. 1969AUAustralian professional wrestler and actor
- Nathan Fillionb. 1971CACanadian-American actor (born 1971)
- Nathan Barrb. 1973USAmerican musician
- Nathan Grenob. 1975USAmerican film director and animator
- Nathan Kressb. 1992USAmerican actor (born 1992)
- Nathan Sykesb. 1993GBEnglish singer
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 150 sources across 69 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 481K | #93 |
| FR France | INSEE — Fichier des prénoms (1900–2024) | 2024 | 122K | #29 |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — names by decade (Kaggle mirror) | 2022 | 45K | — |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname) | — | 45K | #604 |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — Nomes (census name API) | — | 17K | #1,524 |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname) | 2020 | 6.5K | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 5K | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 627 | #93 |
| GB United Kingdom | ONS — Baby names England and Wales (2024) | 2024 | 597 | #88 |
| BR Brazil | IBGE — Censo 2022 Nomes no Brasil per-token lookup (v3 API, given+surname) | — | 360 | #604 |
Reference works 11
- Dictionary of American Family Names
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)
- Søndergaard, Georg, Danske efternavne (Lademann 1984/1991)
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Nathan mean, and where does it come from?
- from the Hebrew personal name Natan, literally ‘given (by God)’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
- Is Nathan a male or female name?
- Nathan is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What are other forms of the name Nathan?
- In the etymology graph, Jonathan, Nathaniel and Natan are forms of the same name in other languages; Nate is a recorded short or pet form.
- In which country does Nathan have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 482 thousand people named Nathan, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled nathan.
- How common is the name Nathan?
- In the United States, the national register counted 481,621 people named Nathan in 2020, about 1 in 691 residents.
- How common is Nathan compared with other names?
- In the United States, Nathan is the 206th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
- How do you pronounce Nathan?
- A machine transcription gives /neɪθən/ (IPA) for English.
What do you want to know about Nathan?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/nathanThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Nathan” — the 206th most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.