embrisa.
embrisa.
Theme
Masculine

Jonathan

/ˈdʒɒn.ə.θən/

Yahweh has given

Hebrew

How to say it

JON · a · than

/ˈdʒɒn.ə.θən/

What it means

Hebrew Yehonatan, 'Yahweh has given.' The biblical Jonathan was King Saul's son and David's closest friend; their relationship is one of the Bible's most-studied bonds.

Jonathan is the English form of the Hebrew Yehonatan (yāhū 'Yahweh' + nāthan 'has given'). In the books of Samuel, Jonathan is the eldest son of King Saul and bound to David in a covenant of friendship that survives Saul's jealousy and Jonathan's death in battle. Their bond is one of the most-quoted passages on friendship in scripture. The English Jonathan stayed steady through the centuries and surged with the biblical-name revival of the 1970s and 1980s. Jon, Johnny, and Jonny all circulate as shorts; Nathan started as a short for Jonathan and is now its own name.

Popularity over time

#10 #100 #1 #84318802025

peaked at #15 in 1988, currently #89 in 2025.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, names given to at least 5 babies in a year, 1880–present. See where the names are moving

Heads-up notes

  • Nickname

    Jon, Johnny, and Jonny all circulate. Nathan started as a short for Jonathan and is now a separate name on its own.

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

  • Jonathan (Bible) King Saul's son and David's closest friend; their covenant is one of scripture's central friendships
  • Jonathan Swift Anglo-Irish satirist, Gulliver's Travels and A Modest Proposal
  • Jonathan Franzen American novelist, The Corrections and Freedom

Spelling variants

  • Yehonatan
  • Jon
  • Yonatan