Humanverse

Nathanael vs Natilee

American parents have registered 22,244 Nathanaels since 1880, against 533 Natilees. Nathanael is still ahead, with 442 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Nathanael Natilee

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 2010, when Nathanael had 475 and Natilee had 44.

Side by side

  Nathanael Natilee
Total US births 22,244533
Most in one year 60944
Babies in 2025 442under 5
Estimated living today 21,000530
Median age today 2316
Peak year 20002010
Best rank 408th boys3,572nd girls
Rank in 2025 632ndunranked
First recorded 19151985
Girls / boys 17 / 22,227533 / 0

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 Natilees are over 16. That is 7 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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