The story in the numbers

866,991 boys have been named Jonathan in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1988, with 24,348 births — 1.3% of all boys recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 44 → 83).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1990, and the 1980s alone account for 27%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 63 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 3,570 girls have also been given it, 0.41% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Jonathan

192

129

139

660

1,078

1,663

8,297

25,817

47,388

107,935

229,959

197,500

144,842

79,860

21,532

In 1988, its biggest year

Jonathan was the 15th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1988 were Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua and Andrew. See all of 1988.

Names that rose and fell with Jonathan

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.