Meaning: Its source is Netanyahu, a Hebrew name meaning "God has given."

Popularity: The name Nathanial ranked 621st in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of 2000-2003 Social Security Administration statistics and 1087th in popularity for males of all ages in a sample of the 1990 US Census.

Though this name appears on the 1990 U.S. Census lists, it is used by only a small percentage of the general population.

Narrative: In Christian scripture, this was the name of one of Christ's disciples. It is believed that he was most commonly indentified by the surname Bartholomew, an Aramic-derived patronymic meaning ''son of Talmai.''