Nathanael, Nathaniel

Gender: Masculine
Origin: Hebrew, Biblical
Meaning: “God has given.”
Eng (nay-THAN-yel; nah-THAN-yel)

The name is derived from the Hebrew male name, Netan’el (נְתַנְאֵל), meaning, “God has given.”

In the New Testament, the name is often attributed as being the true name of St. Bartholomew, one of the twelve Apostles.

In the English-speaking world, the name was not very common until after the Protestant Reformation, where the name seems to have been particularly common among the early Protestant settlers of North America. It was borne by famous American novelist, Nathaniel Hawthorne, (1804-1864).

Currently, Nathaniel is the 84th most popular name given to boys in the United States, (2011). His rankings in other countries are as follows:

• # 86 (Canada, BC, 2010)
• # 103 (Nathanaël, France, 2010)
• # 580 (Nathanael, United States, 2011)

Other forms of the name include:

• Natanail Натанаил (Bulgarian)
• Natanael Натанаило (Croatian/Polish/Portuguese/Serbian/Slovak/Spanish)
• Nathanael (Czech/Dutch/English/German/Scandinavian)
• Nathanaël (French)
• Natanaele/Nataniele (Italian)

An obscure French feminine form is Nathanaëlle.

Common English short forms are Nat, Nate and occasionally Thaniel.

Sources

1. http://www.behindthename.com/php/find.php?name=nathaniel
2. http://www.askoxford.com/firstnames/nathaniel?view=uk