The prophet who walks into King David's palace and, with a single parable about a poor man's lamb, brings the great king to his knees in repentance. Nathan, from the Hebrew Natan meaning he gave, has the gift of plainness: no ornament, no frills, two syllables flat as a Kansas horizon. Nathan Hale went to the British gallows at twenty-one with a line borrowed from Addison on his lips. Nathanael West wrote Hollywood in acid. The name has floated in the American top hundred since the late 1970s; it currently ranks 62, given to about one in 342 boys. Everyman in the best sense.
Popularity
1880 to today
US SSA data. Lower rank number means more popular. A flat line at the top of the chart means the name did not rank in the top 1000.
Nicknames
No common nicknames.
Middle name ideas
All middle names for NathanFamous people
None notable in our records yet.
In fiction
No fictional associations tracked.
Sibling name ideas
- Nolan
- Jayden
- Waylon
- Wesley
- Joshua
Similar energy
- Nolan
- Jayden
- Waylon
- Wesley
- Joshua
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Names like Nathan
Nolan
Steady· boy
Irish Ó Nualláin, 'descendant of the chariot-fighter'
Jayden
Falling· boy
Modern American coinage, variant of Jadon or Hayden
Waylon
Rising· boy
Anglo-Saxon, from Wayland the Smith, mythic blacksmith
Wesley
Rising· boy
Old English place name, 'western meadow'
Joshua
Steady· boy
Hebrew Yehoshua, 'the Lord is salvation'