How popular is the baby name Nathan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Nathan.

The graph will take a few moments to load. (Don't worry, it shouldn't take 9 months!) If it's taking too long, try reloading the page.


Popularity of the baby name Nathan


Posts that mention the name Nathan

Popular baby names in Italy, 2022

Flag of Italy
Flag of Italy

The country of Italy — which includes not only the boot-shaped Italian peninsula, but also various Mediterranean islands (including the two largest, Sicily and Sardinia) — shares land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia.

In 2022, Italy welcomed 393,333 babies — 190,493 girls and 202,840 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sofia and Leonardo, for the fifth year in a row.

Here are Italy’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Sofia, 5,465 baby girls
  2. Aurora, 4,900
  3. Giulia, 4,198
  4. Ginevra, 3,846
  5. Vittoria, 3,814
  6. Beatrice, 3,333 – pronounced beh-a-TREE-cheh
  7. Alice, 3,154 – pronounced a-LEE-cheh
  8. Ludovica, 3,103
  9. Emma, 2,800
  10. Matilde, 2,621
  11. Anna, 2,284
  12. Camilla, 2,253
  13. Chiara, 2,120 – pronounced KYAH-rah
  14. Giorgia, 2,089
  15. Bianca, 2,042
  16. Nicole, 2,001
  17. Greta, 1,929
  18. Gaia, 1,736
  19. Martina, 1,729
  20. Azzurra, 1,717
  21. Arianna, 1,560
  22. Sara, 1,542
  23. Noemi, 1,528
  24. Isabel, 1,420
  25. Rebecca, 1,394
  26. Chloe, 1,359
  27. Adele, 1,356
  28. Mia, 1,329
  29. Elena, 1,277
  30. Diana, 1,207
  31. Francesca, 1,145
  32. Ambra, 1,130
  33. Gioia, 1,123
  34. Cecilia, 1,119
  35. Viola, 1,100
  36. Elisa, 1,030
  37. Marta, 1,023
  38. Emily, 1,022
  39. Carlotta, 954
  40. Margherita, 918
  41. Sole, 916 – pronounced SOH-leh
  42. Anita, 879
  43. Maria, 876
  44. Eleonora, 866
  45. Amelia, 861
  46. Alessia, 851
  47. Nina, 831
  48. Luna, 828
  49. Giada, 818
  50. Sophie, 789

Boy Names

  1. Leonardo, 7,888 baby boys
  2. Francesco, 4,823
  3. Tommaso, 4,795
  4. Edoardo, 4,748
  5. Alessandro, 4,729
  6. Lorenzo, 4,493
  7. Mattia, 4,374
  8. Gabriele, 4,062
  9. Riccardo, 3,753
  10. Andrea, 3,604
  11. Diego, 2,824
  12. Nicolò, 2,747
  13. Matteo, 2,744
  14. Giuseppe, 2,735
  15. Federico, 2,563
  16. Antonio, 2,562
  17. Enea, 2,314
  18. Samuele, 2,230
  19. Giovanni, 2,173
  20. Pietro, 2,130
  21. Filippo, 2,018
  22. Davide, 1,830
  23. Giulio, 1,711
  24. Gioele, 1,695
  25. Christian, 1,653
  26. Michele, 1,612
  27. Gabriel, 1,533
  28. Luca, 1,464
  29. Marco, 1,433
  30. Elia, 1,418
  31. Salvatore, 1,417
  32. Vincenzo, 1,353
  33. Liam, 1,269
  34. Thomas, 1,259
  35. Emanuele, 1,220
  36. Noah, 1,200
  37. Alessio, 1,164
  38. Samuel, 1,140
  39. Nathan, 1,112
  40. Giacomo, 1,101
  41. Jacopo, 1,033
  42. Giorgio, 1,025
  43. Simone, 1,014
  44. Ettore, 1,008
  45. Luigi, 999
  46. Manuel, 996
  47. Damiano, 982
  48. Daniele, 930
  49. Domenico, 872
  50. Daniel, 869

I’d like to thank reader Daniele, who not only alerted me that Italy’s rankings came out early this year, but also generously offered explanations for a few of the fastest-rising names: Sole, Soleil, and Sophie.

Sole (Italian for “sun”), which was rarely used in the early 2000s, started picking up steam in the mid-2010s. Last year, it jumped into the top 50 for the first time. Daniele said that Sole’s rise “has been fueled by a few celebrity baby names.”

Graph of the usage of the baby name Sole in Italy since 1999
Usage of the baby name Sole in Italy

Sophie and Soleil (French for “sun”) are linked to influencers/TV personalities Sophie Codegoni and Soleil Sorge. Both women participated in the 6th season (2021-2022) of Grande Fratello VIP, which is the celebrity version of Grande Fratello (Italy’s Big Brother).

Graph of the usage of the baby name Sophie in Italy since 1999
Usage of the baby name Sophie in Italy

Soleil Sorge had become famous a few years earlier when she appeared on the 21st season (2016-2017) of the dating reality TV show Uomini e Donne (translation: Men and Women). Her name debuted in the Italian data in 2017:

  • 2022: 474 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
  • 2021: 144 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
  • 2020: 98 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
  • 2019: 104 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
  • 2018: 78 baby girls named Soleil in Italy
  • 2017: 74 baby girls named Soleil in Italy [debut]
  • 2016: unlisted
  • 2015: unlisted

(Italy’s baby name data — just like the U.S. data — includes only names given to five or more babies per year.)

Thank you so much, Daniele! :)

Other names currently on the rise in Italy include:

  • Luna, Mariasole, Anastasia, Diana, Celeste (girl names)
  • Ludovico, Ethan, Noah, Liam, Achille, Dylan, Enea (boy names)

Finally, here are Italy’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: How many babies are named…? – Istat, Istat Statistics, Soleil Sorge – Wikipedia, Uomini e donne – Italian Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Italy (public domain). Graphs from Istat.

Which boy names are the most Canadian?

Lake Louise, Canada

Yesterday we came up with some girl names that were either particularly Canadian or particularly American. So today let’s do the same thing for boy names.

Again, here are the two different methods:

First, we’ll look at the most popular names that appeared in only one set of data (either Canada or the U.S.) in 2022.

Second, we’ll look at the names that appeared in both sets of data, focusing on how proportionally popular each name was in each place. For the boy names below, I calculated the proportions by dividing each name’s U.S. usage by the total number of boys born in the U.S. last year (1,863,582) and each name’s Canadian usage by the total number of boys born Canada last year (180,763).

Top Canada-only boy names

The 2022 Canadian data included 261 boy names that were not in the U.S. data. Below are the 10 most popular Canada-only boy names.

Number of boys (Can.)Rank (Can.)
1. Edouard49249th
2. Arnaud35285th
3. Florent73394th
4. Laurier60460th
5. Loik57485th
6. Ludovick45588th
7. Renaud42627th
8. Gregoire30831st
9. Charles-Edouard27 (tie)902nd (tie)
10. Gurniwaz27 (tie)902nd (tie)

Nine out of ten are French names used primarily in Quebec:

  • Edouard: 482 of 492 born in Quebec
  • Arnaud: 349 of 352
  • Florent: 71 of 73
  • Laurier: 60 of 60 (all)
  • Loik: 47 of 57
  • Ludovick: 45 of 45 (all)
  • Renaud: 40 of 42
  • Gregoire: 30 of 30 (all)
  • Charles-Edouard: 25 of 27

The Sikh name Gurniwaz, however, was not used in Quebec at all.

Boy names particularly popular in Canada

Now let’s look at the more than 2,950 boy names that appeared in both sets of data. Of the boy names used more frequently in Canada than in the U.S., the 10 below had the largest pro-Canada differentials. (I added the rankings for both countries as well.)

Differential (Pro-Can.)Rank (Can.)Rank (U.S.)
1. Leo0.3578%4th22nd
2. Adam0.3460%16th97th
3. Felix0.3408%23rd192nd
4. Theo0.3217%17th99th
5. Thomas0.3197%8th45th
6. Arthur0.3030%22nd140th
7. Nathan0.2830%13th57th
8. Muhammad0.2675%35th297th
9. Louis0.2576%34th246th
10. Emile0.2473%60th2,076th

Top U.S.-only boy names

The 2022 U.S. data included 11,297 boy names that were not in the Canadian data. Below are the 10 most popular U.S.-only boy names.

Number of boys (U.S.)Rank (U.S.)
1. Jesus2,247165th
2. Iker830385th
3. Jaziel779412th
4. Baker709433rd
5. Major701441st
6. Marcos614491st
7. Roberto607498th
8. Jamari577512th
9. Tadeo567519th
10. Jamir555534th

Many of these are used primarily by Spanish speakers.

Boy names particularly popular in the U.S.

Now, back to the names that both countries had in common. Of the boy names used more frequently in the U.S. than in Canada, the 10 below had the largest pro-U.S. differentials.

Differential (Pro-U.S.)Rank (U.S.)Rank (Can.)
1. Elijah0.3147%5th37th
2. Mateo0.2833%11th50th
3. Santiago0.2620%48th285th
4. Sebastian0.2584%13th62nd
5. Angel0.2474%62nd603rd
6. Julian0.2467%35th125th
7. John0.2219%26th80th
8. Josiah0.2152%51st199th
9. Michael0.2143%16th52nd
10. Christopher0.1936%56th179th

What are your thoughts on the names above?

Sources:

Image by Redd F from Unsplash

Popular baby names in Canada, 2022

Flag of Canada
Flag of Canada

The vast country of Canada is located in North America and shares the world’s longest international land border with its neighbor to the south, the United States.

Last year, Canada (excluding Yukon) welcomed 351,679 babies — 48.6% of which were girls, 51.4% of which were boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Noah.

Here are Canada’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Olivia, 1,804 baby girls
  2. Emma, 1,550
  3. Charlotte, 1,475
  4. Amelia, 1,193
  5. Sophia, 1,079
  6. Chloe, 1,057
  7. Mia, 946
  8. Ava, 923
  9. Lily, 861
  10. Mila, 847
  11. Alice, 786
  12. Isla, 769
  13. Sofia, 763
  14. Evelyn, 751
  15. Abigail, 715
  16. Sophie, 712
  17. Nora, 708
  18. Charlie, 700
  19. Ellie, 680
  20. Zoe, 661
  21. Maya, 658
  22. Isabella, 656
  23. Ella, 634
  24. Clara, 618
  25. Elizabeth, 617
  26. Aria, 610
  27. Violet, 599
  28. Rose, 593
  29. Eva, 578
  30. Hannah, 577
  31. Emily, 575 (tie)
  32. Luna, 575 (tie)
  33. Ivy, 562
  34. Harper, 560
  35. Florence, 557
  36. Scarlett, 519
  37. Victoria, 514
  38. Hazel, 513
  39. Julia, 492
  40. Avery, 490
  41. Madison, 488
  42. Zoey, 474
  43. Eleanor, 467
  44. Grace, 448 (tie)
  45. Livia, 448 (tie)
  46. Emilia, 447
  47. Layla, 437
  48. Aurora, 435
  49. Lea, 434
  50. Willow, 430

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 2,198 baby boys
  2. Liam, 1,902
  3. William, 1,516
  4. Leo, 1,447
  5. Theodore, 1,423
  6. Oliver, 1,273
  7. Benjamin, 1,217
  8. Thomas, 1,205
  9. Lucas, 1,187
  10. Jack, 1,186
  11. James, 1,141
  12. Jacob, 1,105
  13. Nathan, 1,047
  14. Logan, 1,044
  15. Ethan, 1,040
  16. Adam, 977
  17. Theo, 932
  18. Jackson, 907
  19. Owen, 891
  20. Henry, 870
  21. Levi, 831
  22. Arthur, 807
  23. Felix, 806
  24. Gabriel, 777
  25. Samuel, 753
  26. Charles, 749
  27. Luca, 719
  28. Hudson, 663
  29. Nolan, 651
  30. Alexander, 647
  31. Daniel, 644
  32. Mason, 622
  33. Caleb, 613
  34. Louis, 604
  35. Jayden, 595 (tie)
  36. Muhammad, 595 (tie)
  37. Elijah, 593
  38. Aiden, 584
  39. Maverick, 581
  40. Isaac, 579
  41. Ryan, 538
  42. Wyatt, 521
  43. Carter, 520
  44. Luke, 516
  45. Elliot, 499 (tie)
  46. Lincoln, 499 (tie)
  47. Eli, 496
  48. Grayson, 495
  49. Edouard, 492
  50. Mateo, 489

The names in Canada’s top 100 that rose the fastest from 2021 to 2022 were:

  • Wren, Blake, Eloise, Freya, Athena, and Gabriella (girl names)
  • Leon, Ali, Cooper, Rowan, Charlie, Luke, and Sebastian (boy names)

And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — names that were given to just 5 babies each in Canada last year:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Aberdeen, Becca, Charis, Dorcas, Everlyn, Farida, Guntas, Hadeel, Iremide, Jolianne, Khawla, Lumina, Mavi, Nichelle, Opale, Perrie, Rhya, Sylia, Tavisha, Uma, Verna, Wilder, Yoadan, ZaynahAlborz, Brandt, Cornelius, Dryden, Espen, Fabrice, Gurjot, Hades, Indy, Jesper, Kuzey, Lorne, Mederic, Nima, Onkar, Poseidon, Rorik, Solal, Theeran, Udayvir, Viansh, Wesson, Yvan, Zeno

The names used even less frequently — between one and four times — “accounted for 86% of all baby names in 2022.”

Finally, here are Canada’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators – Statistics Canada, Canada’s most popular baby names in 2022 – Statistics Canada, Births, 2022 – Statistics Canada, Canada – Wikipedia

Image: Adapted from Flag of Canada (public domain)

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2022

Flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland

Mountainous, landlocked Switzerland is located in the middle of Europe and surrounded by five other countries: Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, Italy, and France.

Last year, Switzerland welcomed 82,371 babies. What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Noah.

Here are Switzerland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2022:

Girl Names

  1. Emma, 361 baby girls
  2. Mia, 356
  3. Sofia, 318
  4. Emilia, 292
  5. Lina, 289
  6. Elena, 280
  7. Mila, 267
  8. Nora, 258
  9. Malea, 249
  10. Lia, 230 (tie)
  11. Olivia, 230 (tie)
  12. Ella, 222
  13. Anna, 219 (tie)
  14. Giulia, 219 (tie)
  15. Alice, 218 (tie)
  16. Lea, 218 (tie)
  17. Alina, 212 (tie)
  18. Lena, 212 (tie)
  19. Nina, 210
  20. Chiara, 208 (tie)
  21. Lara, 208 (tie)
  22. Luna, 195
  23. Leonie, 194
  24. Elina, 193
  25. Sophia, 192
  26. Yara, 186
  27. Julia, 185
  28. Laura, 182
  29. Elin, 178
  30. Valentina, 176
  31. Sara, 175
  32. Emily, 170
  33. Aurora, 168
  34. Amelia, 167
  35. Luana, 166
  36. Sophie, 165
  37. Livia, 151
  38. Elisa, 143
  39. Eva, 141 (tie)
  40. Juna, 141 (tie)
  41. Zoé, 138
  42. Mara, 133
  43. Victoria, 131
  44. Jana, 129
  45. Ronja, 128
  46. Lou, 127 (tie)
  47. Maria, 127 (tie)
  48. Ava, 126
  49. Charlotte, 124
  50. Alma, 123 (tie)
  51. Malia, 123 (tie)

Boy Names

  1. Noah, 540 boy names
  2. Liam, 428
  3. Matteo, 353
  4. Leon, 293
  5. Luca, 291
  6. Gabriel, 286
  7. Elias, 281
  8. Leo, 256
  9. Louis, 251
  10. Leano, 242
  11. Lio, 233
  12. Leonardo, 224
  13. Lian, 210
  14. Nino, 208
  15. Elio, 205
  16. Julian, 201
  17. Aaron, 199
  18. Nico, 197
  19. Elia, 196 (tie)
  20. Levi, 196 (tie)
  21. Samuel, 191
  22. Finn, 184
  23. Malik, 177
  24. Luan, 176
  25. David, 174 (tie)
  26. Leandro, 174 (tie)
  27. Mattia, 169
  28. Diego, 168 (tie)
  29. Milo, 168 (tie)
  30. Adam, 157
  31. Ben, 156
  32. Levin, 155
  33. Dario, 152 (tie)
  34. Nael, 152 (tie)
  35. Arthur, 151 (tie)
  36. Noé, 151 (tie)
  37. Jonas, 150 (tie)
  38. Lenny, 150 (tie)
  39. Mateo, 149
  40. Livio, 148
  41. Lucas, 145
  42. Robin, 144
  43. Enea, 138
  44. Nathan, 137
  45. Kian, 136
  46. Nelio, 134
  47. Mael, 128
  48. Tim, 127
  49. Theo, 126
  50. Enzo, 123 (tie)
  51. Laurin, 123 (tie)

The name Malea has risen significantly (among German-speakers almost exclusively) over the last twenty years. Malea debuted in the Swiss data in 2003, vaulted from outside the girls’ top 1,000 all the way to 261st in 2009, rose to the top 100 a few years later, and finally entered the top 10 in 2022. No doubt this rise was fueled by the trendiness of Mia, Emilia, and Mila. (Mia has ranked either #1 or #2 in Switzerland ever since 2011.)

The girls’ top 100 included Yuna (59th), Dua (66th), Melissa (84th), and Ida (97th).

The boys’ top 100 included Nevio (55th), Fabio (71st), Romeo (85th), and Timo (94th).

Switzerland, which is home to about 8.7 million people, has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top baby names among the speakers of each of these languages:

Girl NamesBoy Names
German speakers
(62.3% of the population)
1. Emilia, 273
2. Mia, 272
3. Malea, 243
4. Emma, 238 (tie)
5. Lina, 238 (tie)
1. Noah, 353
2. Liam, 266
3. Leon, 264 (tie)
4. Matteo, 264 (tie)
5. Leano, 241
French speakers
(22.8% of pop.)
1. Alice, 125
2. Emma, 107
3. Olivia, 86
4. Eva, 85
5. Sofia, 83
1. Noah, 168
2. Gabriel, 137
3. Liam, 136
4. Arthur, 102
5. Louis, 94
Italian speakers
(8.0% of pop.)
1. Sofia, 30
2. Aurora, 22 (tie)
3. Emily, 22 (tie)
4. Ginevra, 20
5. Nina, 17
1. Leonardo, 44
2. Liam, 26
3. Alessandro, 20
4. Noah, 19
5. Enea, 18
Romansh speakers
(0.5% of pop.)
1. Lia, 3 (tie)
2. Sofia, 3 (tie)
3. Elin, 2
1. Jan, 3 (tie)
2. Mauro, 3 (tie)
3. Andrin, Gian, Joel, Levi, Lino, Lio, 2 each (6-way tie)

And here’s a selection of names from the other end of the spectrum — names that were given to just two babies each in Switzerland in 2022:

Rare Girl Names Rare Boy Names
Airi, Berfin, Catalia, Demiana, Elikia, Franka, Gini, Hevi, Ilirida, Jemina, Kemilly, Lamia, Maluna, Nainika, Ornella, Pema, Qiana, Rhéa, Sinja, Tringa, Ursina, Vinia, Wilda, Xenja, Yanna, ZerinAthos, Bosco, Cuno, Divico, Eleano, Filmon, Gauthier, Hansueli, Ilio, Janic, Kauã, Lirim, Menzo, Nart, Orfeas, Pharell, Qamil, Rexhep, Surafiel, Tamino, Unejs, Vid, Wayne, Xhan, Yori, Zidane

Some definitions/explanations:

  • Hansueli is a Swiss-German combination of Hans (equivalent to John) and Ueli (a diminutive of Ulrich).
  • Lirim is based on the Albanian word liri, meaning “freedom, liberty.”
  • Maluna may have been inspired by a German children’s book series featuring a fairy character named Maluna Mondschein. (Her first name is an elaboration of luna, Latin for “moon,” while her last name is German for “moonshine.”) The six books, written by Andrea Schütze, were published from 2014 to 2019.

Finally, here’s a link to Switzerland’s 2021 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names of newborns – Federal Statistical Office, Switzerland – Wikipedia, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)