Nathan
A Hebrew name meaning "gift", carried almost entirely by men. It climbed through the 2010s to a brief high, then fell back: rare enough now that most Poles have never met one.
Nathan Pronunciation
What Nathan means
Where Nathan comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Nathan comes from the Hebrew verb natan, which means "he gave." The sense of "gift" grew out of that plain verb, a naming of the act before the thing. In the Hebrew Bible the prophet Nathan stands before King David and tells him a parable about a poor man's ewe lamb, then names the king's own guilt. That is one of the oldest scenes attached to the name.
The English-speaking world took it up and held it steady for centuries. It travels well. On a Polish class register today, a Nathan sits among the Jakubs and Filips without much fuss, an English-sounding choice built on a Hebrew root.
The name keeps no diminutive of its own in Polish, no softened home-form. It stays whole. What it says, it says directly: he gave, and from that giving, a gift.
How many people are named Nathan
1 in 7338 men in Poland is named Nathan. 2,911 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #599 among male names.
Nathan's popularity over time
12 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #657 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2002. Still the #599 name among living men, even as it slips to #657 among newborns.
Where Nathan is most popular
Nathan is most popular in West Pomeranian, 108% above the national average (20 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Opole (+91%) and Lower Silesian (+90%). It is least common in Łódź and Podlaskie, 86% and 73% below average respectively.
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West Pomeranian20 boys born+108%
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Opole10 boys born+91%
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Lower Silesian34 boys born+90%
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Silesian39 boys born+51%
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Subcarpathian18 boys born+31%
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Lubusz7 boys born+24%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian14 boys born+12%
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Warmian-Masurian9 boys born+10%
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Pomeranian18 boys born+7%
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Lesser Poland21 boys born−19%
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Greater Poland18 boys born−27%
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Masovian25 boys born−38%
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Lublin6 boys born−49%
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Świętokrzyskie3 boys born−52%
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Podlaskie2 boys born−73%
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Łódź2 boys born−86%
Nathan as a middle name
Nathan is a first name for 2,911 men in Poland and a middle name for another 407, an 88/12 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 349th, between Xavier (409) and Aaron (404).
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347
416Stanley
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348
409Xavier
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349407Nathan
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350
404Aaron
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351
400Eric