Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 4, 2026

Jonathan (name)

Jonathan is a common name given to males which means "YHWH has given" in Hebrew. The earliest known use of the name was in the Bible; one Jonathan was the son of King Saul, a close friend of David.

Last revised
Jul 4, 2026
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Jonathan
Jonathan and David
PronunciationEnglish: /ˈɒnəθən/ JON-ə-thən
Finnish: [ˈjoːnɑtɑn]
Dutch: [ˈjoːnaːtɑn]
French: [ʒɔnatɑ̃]
German: [ˈjoːnatan]
Spanish: [ˈɟʝonatan]
GenderMale
LanguageEnglish
Name dayFinland: 26 January,
France: 1 March,
United States: 26 April,
Sweden: 22 December,
Germany: 29 December
Origin
Word/nameHebrew (Israel)
MeaningGod has given
Other names
Nicknames
  • Jon
  • Jon Jon
  • Jonny
  • Jonty
  • Jono
Related names

Jonathan (Hebrew: יְהוֹנָתָן/יוֹנָתָן, Standard: Yehōnatan/Yōnatan, Tiberian: Yŏhōnāṯān/Yōnāṯān1) is a common name given to males which means "YHWH has given" in Hebrew.23 The earliest known use of the name was in the Bible; one Jonathan was the son of King Saul, a close friend of David.

Variants of Jonathan include Jonatan, Djonathan. Biblical variants include Yehonathan, Y'honathan, Yhonathan, Yonathan, Yehonatan, Yonatan, Yonaton, Yonoson, Yeonoson or Yehonasan. In Israel, "Yoni" is a common nickname for Yonatan (Jonathan) in the same way Jonny is in English.4

The name was the 31st-most-popular boys' name in the United States in 2011, according to the SSA.5

List of alternatives

People

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Khan, Geoffrey (2020). The Tiberian Pronunciation Tradition of Biblical Hebrew, Volume 1. Open Book Publishers. ISBN 978-1-78374-676-7.
  2. "MFnames.com – Origin and Meaning of Jonathan". Archived from the original on 2009-05-30. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
  3. Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, Oxford Dictionary of First Names, Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, p. 147.
  4. Slobin, Dan Isaac (1985). The Crosslinguistic Study of Language Acquisition: Theoretical Issues. Psychology Press. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-89859-367-9. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
  5. Popularly Baby Names, Social Security Online
  6. "Jonathan name with Arabic Calligraphy". Archived from the original on 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2018-04-30.