Nathanel
#11,588 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Nathanel has been given to 885 babies in the U.S. since 1917. In 2025 it ranked #11,588 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2002, with 39 recorded.
Babies named Nathanel, 2025
1 in 553,000
Nathanel over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Nathanel?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 553,000
- 6 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 285,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #11,588
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 382,984 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Nathanel sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 382,984 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nathanel. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Nathanels were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Nathanel was born before 1995 — so the typical Nathanel is around 30 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2000s
- 27.2% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 39.3%
- Spread across generations
- Recorded since 1950
- 697
- People you could plausibly meet
2000s — 27.2% of all recorded uses (241).
Is Nathanel rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- +1,876
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −3,716
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.60×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 15.4%
- Peak was 2002 (39)
- Years since peak
- 23
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 30.0% average annual change
Spellings of Nathanel
Nathanel is not the most common spelling — Nathan is, with 64.4% against Nathanel's 0.10%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Where Nathanel is used
Across 1910–2025, Nathanel was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,073,658 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
- 2New York1 in —
- 3Texas1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Nathanel has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Nathanel around the world
Where Nathanel ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- England & Wales2005–2005#3,849in 2005
- France1986–2023#5,362in 2023
- South Australia1988–1988#476in 1988
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Nathanel by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Nathanel
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Nathanel
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.