Natanael

Natanael comes from Hebrew, from Netan'el, a name that packs a verb of giving together with the syllable El, standing for God. Read straight through, it says "God has given." Polish renders the same thought as "dany od Boga." That same El closes out other Hebrew names, among them Michał and Daniel.

The Gospel of John records a Nathanael among the earliest followers of Jesus, a man of Cana whom later readers often tied to the apostle Bartholomew. The name spread from there. It grew familiar in Spanish-speaking homes and across Scandinavia, where Natanael still appears on birth registers today.

The shorter Natan travels alongside it, and so does the variant Nataniel. On a Polish school register you might find one Natan and, a few names down, a Natanael, the same root spelling out that a child was given.