Nat
Meaning
gift of God (short form of Nathaniel); famously borne by Nat King Cole
The story
Nat is the short, warm end of Nathaniel, Hebrew for gift of God, a nickname with the same tweedy charm as Ned and Gus. Its immortal bearer was Nat King Cole, born Nathaniel Adams Coles, whose velvet baritone put Unforgettable and The Christmas Song into permanent rotation and who, in 1956, became one of the first Black Americans to host his own network television show. As a given name in its own right, Nat belongs to an earlier America: strongest in the records around the turn of the twentieth century, thinning steadily through midcentury, and mostly resting since, even as Nathaniel himself has thrived. That long rest is now the appeal. Nat is an heirloom nickname, short enough for a toddler to spell, backed by one of the smoothest voices ever recorded, and fresh precisely because it has waited.
The formal names behind Nat
Nat is an established short form of each of these names.
Nathaniel · Hebrew origin · gift of God
Natalia · Latin origin · Christmas Day, born on Christmas; a widely loved classic
Natalie · Latin origin · "birthday," from natale domini, "the day of the Lord's birth"; first given to girls born at Christmas, it traveled from Russia's Natalia through France to the English-speaking world. A holiday name that long ago outgrew the holiday
Natasha · Russian origin · born on Christmas day (diminutive of Natalia)
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Nat has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
28 people · the #99,072 first name in Brazil · median age 23
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Nat
People given the name Nat in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 1979. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Nat deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nat truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Nat fits with your family’s names and surname.
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