Nathan (given name)

This article is about the western name. For the Hindu deity, see Vethan. For other uses, see Nathan (disambiguation).

Nathan
Nathan the Prophet advising king David
Pronunciation	NAY-thǝn
Gender	Male
Origin
Word/name	Hebrew
Meaning	"Given"
Other names
Nickname(s)	Nate, Nath
Related names	Jonathan, Nathaniel

Nathan is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Hebrew verb נתן meaning to give (standard Hebrew Natan, Yiddish Nussen or Nosson, Tiberian Hebrew Nāṯān). The meaning of the name in Jewish culture could be rendered "he [God] has given" or "he will give".

The related name Elnathan could be rendered "Gift of God". Four different people named Elnathan are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: one at 2 Kings 24:8, and three in Ezra 8:15–20. Similar ancient names are Nathaniel, with the same meaning as Elnathan, and Jonathan which signifies "God has given". Nathan can also be used as a nickname for Nathaniel.

Familiar forms of Nathan used in English include Nat, Nath, Nate and Nathaniel.

Hebrew Bible

• Nathan, a prophet who lived in the time of Kings David and Solomon
• Nathan, son of David and his wife Bathsheba (1 Chr 3:5; Luke 3:31)
• In 1 Kings 4:5 Nathan is the name of the father of Azariah and of the father of Zabad, two of Solomon's chief administrators. It is not clear whether both men had the same father
• In 2 Samuel 23:36 Nathan from Zobah is listed as the father of Igal
• In 1 Chronicles 2:36 another Nathan is listed as a descendant of Jerahmeel, of the tribe of Judah
• In 1 Chronicles 11:38 yet another Nathan is the brother of Joel, one of David's elite warriors
• In Ezra 8:15–16 Nathan is the name of one of Ezra's companions who are sent to Iddo to ask for temple workers to replace the missing Levites
• In Ezra 10:38–44 Nathan son of Binnui is listed as one who divorced a foreign wife and sent her and her children away

Later times

• Rabbi Nathan (disambiguation), multiple people
• Nathan of Gaza, 17th century prophet
• Nathan Adrian, American swimmer
• Nathan Alterman (1910–70), Israeli poet, journalist, and translator
• Nathan Amos, South African born-Israeli rugby union player
• Nate 'Tiny' Archibald (born 1948), American basketball player
• Nathan Beauregard (1890s–1970), American musician
• Nate Bender, American aquanaut
• Nathan Birnbaum (1864–1937), Austrian journalist and Jewish philosopher
• Nathan Brown (born 1993), Australian Rugby League player
• Nate Clements (born 1991), American football player
• Nathan Coe, Australian soccer player
• Nathan Cohen (born 1986), New Zealand world champion and Olympic champion rower
• Nathan Connolly, lead guitarist for Snow Patrol
• Nathan Deal, American politician and 82nd Governor of Georgia
• Nate Ebner (born 1988), American football player in the National Football League
• Nathan Einhorn, American journalist
• Nathan Fagan-Gayle (born 1986), British musician known simply as Nathan
• Nathan Fillion (born 1971), Canadian actor
• Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821–1877), Civil War general in the Confederate Army
• Nate Freiman (born 1986), American baseball player
• Nathan Gamble (born 1998), American actor
• Nathan Goff, Jr. (1843–1920), member of the United States Congress from West Virginia
• Nathan Greene, American artist
• Nathan Hale (1755–1776), an American patriot serving as a spy during the American Revolution
• Nathan Handwerker (1891–1974), Polish-American entrepreneur
• Nathan Hauritz (born 1981), Australian cricketer
• Kris Nathan Humphries (born 1985), American professional basketball player
• Nathan Jawai (born 1986), Australian basketball player
• Nathan Jonas Jordison (commonly known as Joey Jordison), American drummer for the band Slipknot
• Nathan Jung, Chinese American actor and stuntman
• Nathan Kress (born 1992), American Actor
• Nathan Lane (born 1956), American actor
• Nathan McCall (born 1955), American author
• Nate McLouth (born 1981), American baseball player
• Nathan Merritt (born 1982), Indigenous Australian Rugby League player
• Nathan Militzok (born 1923), American basketball player
• Nathan Milstein (1903–1992), Ukrainian-American violinist
• Nathan Peats (born 1990), Australian Rugby League player
• Natan Peled (1913–1992), Israeli politician
• Nathan Post (1881–1938), 7th and 10th Governor of American Samoa
• Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777–1836), German banker and financier
• Nathan Robertson (born 1977), English badminton player
• Nate Saint (1923–1956), American missionary pilot
• Nathan Scott main character of the fictional TV series One Tree Hill
• Nathan Seiberg (born 1956), Israeli theoretical physicist
• Nathan Smith (disambiguation), multiple people
• Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (born 1985), British actor
• Nathan Sykes (born 1974), retired English rugby player
• Nathan Sykes (born 1993) member of British-Irish boyband The Wanted
• Natan Yonatan (1923–2004), Israeli poet
• Nathan Zach (born 1930), Israeli poet

Fictional characters

• Prince Nathan in the comic strip Prince Valiant
• Nathan the Wise, eponymous protagonist in the 1779 play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
• Big Nate, eponymous comic strip character
• Nate the Great, eponymous protagonist of the book series by Marjorie W. Sharmat
• Nathan Algren, protagonist of the film The Last Samurai
• Captain Nathan Bridger, of the cult science fiction show Seaquest DSV
• Nathan Copeland, a character in the video game No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
• Nathan Detroit, a character in the novel and musical Guys and Dolls
• Nathan Drake (character), protagonist of the Uncharted video games
• Nathan Explosion, a character in the cartoon series Metalocalypse
• Nathan Ford, mastermind of TNT's crime-drama Leverage
• Nathan Grantham in the movie Creepshow
• Nathan Graves, protagonist of the video game series Castlevania: Circle of the Moon
• Nathan Hale, protagonist of the PS3 game series Resistance
• Nathan Horton, a minor character in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives
• Nathan Landau, a character in the novel Sophie's Choice by William Styron
• Nathan Never, eponymous protagonist of the Italian science fiction comic book
• Nathan Petrelli, a character in the NBC science fiction series Heroes
• Nathan Rijckx, the main character in the 2012 short film Death of a Shadow played by Matthias Schoenaerts
• Nathan Scott, a character in the television series One Tree Hill
• Nathan Sims, a character in the Australian mockumentary series We Can Be Heroes: Finding The Australian of the Year and its follow-up, Angry Boys
• Nathan Stark, a character in the television series Eureka
• Nathan Summers, a Marvel Comic Book character who a mutant and Super-Hero from the X-Men and X-Force
• Nathan Wuornos, a character in the television series Haven, based on Stephen King's short story The Colorado Kid
• Nathan Zuckerman, narrator or protagonist in many of Philip Roth's works of fiction

See also

• Nathan (disambiguation)
• Nathan (surname)
• Jonathan (name)
• Nathaniel
• All pages beginning with Nathan