Humanverse

Natalynn vs Nathanael

American parents have registered 22,244 Nathanaels since 1880, against 516 Natalynns. Nathanael is still ahead, with 442 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Natalynn against Nathanael, 1880 to 2025 0 200 400 600 800 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Natalynn Nathanael

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Nathanael has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1915 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2021, when Natalynn had 31 and Nathanael had 317.

Side by side

  Natalynn Nathanael
Total US births 51622,244
Most in one year 39609
Babies in 2025 18442
Estimated living today 51021,000
Median age today 1023
Peak year 20142000
Best rank 3,848th girls408th boys
Rank in 2025 6,325th632nd
First recorded 19971915
Girls / boys 516 / 017 / 22,227

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Nathanaels alive today are over 23; half the Natalynns are over 10. That is 13 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Natalynn and Nathanael.