Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Nathaniel was most popular in 2002, when 6,829 American babies were given the name — ranking #102 that year. In 2025 it ranked #256, with 2,565 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 288,265 people named Nathaniel.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Nathaniel is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 288,265 American births named Nathaniel between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 249,223 are estimated to be alive today.
2,565 American babies were named Nathaniel in 2025, ranking #256 that year.
Nathaniel is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 2,633 births a year, against 4,577 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -42% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Nathaniel is a boy’s name — 0.4% of the 288,265 Americans given it were girls and 99.6% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 249,223 Americans named Nathaniel are alive today — 86% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 27 years old, and half are between 17 and 40.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Hebrew · "gift of God"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Nathaniel on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org