Nathan (given name)
 Nathan the Prophet advising king David | |
| Pronunciation | NAY-thǝn |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Origin | |
| Word/name | Hebrew/Iraqi |
| Meaning | "Giver" |
| Other names | |
| Related names | Jonathan |
Nathan is a masculine given name. It is derived from the Hebrew verb נתן meaning to give (standard Hebrew Natan, Yiddish Nussen or Nosson, Tiberian Hebrew Nāṯān). The meaning of the name in Jewish culture could be rendered "he [God] has given" or "he will give".[1]
The related name Elnathan could be rendered "Gift of God". Four different people named Elnathan are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: one at 2 Kings 24:8, and three in Ezra 8:15–20. Similar ancient names are Nathaniel, with the same meaning as Elnathan, and Jonathan which signifies "YHWH has given".
Familiar forms of Nathan used in English include Nat, Nath, Nate and Nathaniel.
In the Hebrew Bible
- Nathan the Prophet, who lived in the time of Kings David and Solomon
- Nathan, son of David and his wife Bathsheba (1 Chr 3:5; Luke 3:31)
- In 1 Kings 4:5 Nathan is the name of the father of Azariah and of the father of Zabad, two of Solomon's chief administrators. It is not clear whether both men had the same father
- In 2 Samuel 23:36 Nathan from Zobah is listed as the father of Igal
- In 1 Chronicles 2:36 another Nathan is listed as a descendant of Jerahmeel, of the tribe of Judah
- In 1 Chronicles 11:38 yet another Nathan is the brother of Joel, one of David's elite warriors
- In Ezra 8:15–16 Nathan is the name of one of Ezra's companions who are sent to Iddo to ask for temple workers to replace the missing Levites
- In Ezra 10:38–44 Nathan son of Binnui is listed as one who divorced a foreign wife and sent her and her children away
In later times
- Rabbi Nathan, 2nd century tanna
- Nathan of Gaza, 17th century "prophet"
- Nathan Adrian, American swimmer
- Nathan Amos, South African born-Israeli rugby union player
- Nathan Beauregard (1890s-1970), American musician
- Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877), Civil War general in the Confederate Army
- Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937), Austrian journalist and Jewish philosopher
- Nate Clements (born 1991), American football player
- Nathan Coe, Australian soccer player
- Nathan Connolly, lead guitarist for Snow Patrol
- Nathan Einhorn, American journalist
- Nathan Fagan-Gayle (born 1986), British musician known simply as Nathan
- Nathan Fillion (born 1971), Canadian actor
- Nathan Gamble (born 1998), American actor
- Nathan Hale (1755-1776), an American patriot serving as a spy during the American Revolution
- Nathan Handwerker (1891-1974), Polish-American entrepreneur
- Nathan Hauritz (born 1981), Australian cricketer
- Nathan Kress (born 1992), American Actor
- Nathan Lane, American actor
- Nathan McCall (born 1955), American author
- Nathan Milstein (1903-1992), Ukrainian-American violinist
- Nathan Post (1881-1938), 7th and 10th Governor of American Samoa
- Nathan Robertson (born 1977), English badminton player
- Nate Saint (1923–1956), American missionary pilot
Fictional characters
- Prince Nathan in the comic strip Prince Valiant
- Nathan der Weise (English Nathan the Wise), protagonist in the 1779 play of the same name written by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
- Big Nate comic strip character, and book series character.
- Nathan Algren, protagonist of the film The Last Samurai
- Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys and Dolls
- Nathan Drake, the protagonist of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and its sequel Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- Nathan Explosion in the cartoon series Metalocalypse
- Nathan Grantham in the movie Creepshow
- Nathan Hale, protagonist of the PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man and its sequel Resistance 2
- Nathan Horton in the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives
- Nathan Landau in the novel Sophie's Choice by William Styron
- Nathan Never, protagonist in the black and white Italian science fiction comic book of the same name
- Nathan Petrelli in the NBC science fiction series Heroes
- Nathan Scott in the television series One Tree Hill
- Nathan Zuckerman, narrator or protagonist in many of Philip Roth's works of fiction
- Nathan Graves, main character in Circle of the Moon Konami's Akumajou Dracula videogame series
References
- ^ Meaning and etymology of the name Nathan, Abarim Publications
See also
- Nathan (disambiguation page)
- Nathan (surname)
- Jonathan (name)
- Nathaniel
- All pages beginning with Nathan
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