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Boy · Hebrew
Nathan
Say it: NAY-thun
Meaning
Hebrew Natan, 'he gave'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A Puritan name that became very popular in English and French from the 1970s.
Its wave through time
Most used in the 2000s
In the United States
- 563,043 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 2004, about 1 in 136 boys
- 5,653 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
| French | Nathan |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Natán |
| Italian | Natan |
| Portuguese | Natan |
| German | Nathan |
| Polish | Natan |
| Hebrew | Natan |
Famous bearers
- Nathan, prophet at the court of King David
- Nathan Hale, American Revolutionary soldier
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National birth statistics of European countries source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.