Nathaniel

Nathaniel meaning

Nathaniel is an international and Christian boy's name of Hebrew origin (via Greek).

Given of God; "gift of God"

Nathaniel comes from Greek Nathanaēl, the form used in the Gospel of John for Hebrew Nethanel. Strong's builds the Hebrew from nathan, 'to give', and El, 'God', and glosses it 'given of God'; Thayer's lexicon gives 'gift of God'. Ten men in the Old Testament bear it, and in the New Testament Nathanael is the disciple Jesus calls a true Israelite, often identified with the apostle Bartholomew. Later bearers include the American novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne. Baby-name lists give 'gift of God', which matches. It is said nuh-THAN-yul and is often shortened to Nate or Nat.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Hebrew and Chaldee Dictionary, H5417 · entry Nethanel · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's H5417, Nethanel · Strong's G3482, Nathanael (with Thayer's entry) · Wikipedia, Nathaniel Hawthorne

Famous namesakes

• Nathanael, disciple of Jesus in the Gospel of John
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, American novelist

Popularity abroad

• #140 United States, boys 2025 (up 4 from 144 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #149 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Nathaniel · Nathanael · Nathanial

Related names

Also meaning gift

Also starting with Nat-

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