Jonathan

What Jonathan means

Means “God has given”

Borrowed from Hebrew יְהוֹנָתָן (yəhōnāṯān), יוֹנָתָן (yōnāṯān, literally “God has given”), apparently with influence from Aramaic .

Source: Wiktionary, “Jonathan” (revision 93671809), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Jonathan?

US: Falling: down from #48 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #191 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1985, when 24,116 boys got the name (#17 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 447 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 1,777 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,274 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in AK (4.84 per 1,000 boys), CT (4.01 per 1,000 boys), RI (3.84 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Jonathan is #89 in the US and #296 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9% of US babies named Jonathan were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Johnathan594 US · 12 E&W
• Jonathon119 US
• Johnathon66 US
• Jonnathan9 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Jonathan

Boys

• Andrew#73“manly”^*
• Joshua#66“to save”^*
• Daniel#22“God is my judge”^*
• Mathew#973Variant of Matthew, meaning “gift of the Lord”^*
• Joe#991Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1936, with 8,023 babies; 230 in 2025
• Joseph#29“(God) shall add”^*

For a sister

• Samantha#151“listener”^*
• Rebekah#884“enchantingly beautiful, captivating, snare”^*
• Michelle#465Feminine form of Michel, meaning “who is like God?”^*
• Jessica#665possibly “Iscah in Genesis 11:29, Jescha in the Wycliffe…^*
• Sarah#90“masters, princes”^*
• Elizabeth#17“my God is an oath”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Bible, Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Jonathan’s. Rank is US 2025.