Nachman
Of Hebrew origin, meaning "comforter" or "consoler".
Name Census estimates that about 697 living Americans carry the first name Nachman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nachman today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nachman births was 2012 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nachman. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nachman with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
697
~ 1 in 491,757 Americans
Peak year
2012
32 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,273
Tracked since 1958
Census
Nachman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 545 people with the first name Nachman, which placed it at #19,414 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,414
National first-name rank
People counted
545
545 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nachman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nachman is White at 96.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.8%) and Black (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nachman described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nachman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.3% · 525
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 10
- Black or African American0.7% · 4
- Two or more races0.6% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Nachman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nachman from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 226 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nachman remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nachman by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nachman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nachmans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nachman
The name Nachman has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture. It is derived from the Hebrew word "nacham," which means "to comfort" or "to console." The name Nachman is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages, when Hebrew names were commonly used among Jewish communities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nachman can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. The Talmud mentions a sage named Nachman bar Yaakov, who lived in the 3rd century CE and was known for his wisdom and teachings.
During the Middle Ages, the name Nachman gained popularity among Ashkenazi Jewish communities in Eastern Europe. One notable figure from this period was Nachman of Breslov (1772-1810), a renowned Hasidic rabbi and founder of the Breslov Hasidic movement. His teachings and writings, particularly the collection known as "Likutey Moharan," have had a lasting impact on Hasidic Judaism.
In the 19th century, the name Nachman was also used by several prominent Jewish scholars and writers. One example is Nachman Krochmal (1785-1840), a philosopher and historian who made significant contributions to the study of Jewish history and thought.
Another notable figure with the name Nachman was Nachman Syrkin (1868-1924), a Zionist leader and theorist who played a crucial role in the early development of the Labor Zionist movement.
In the 20th century, the name Nachman was carried by individuals like Nachman Avigad (1905-1992), an Israeli archaeologist and professor who made important discoveries in the excavations of Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.
It is worth mentioning that while the name Nachman has its roots in Hebrew and Jewish culture, it has also been adopted by individuals of other backgrounds, particularly in regions with significant Jewish populations or influences.
People
Nachman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nachman as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nachman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nachman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 697 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nachman going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 491,757 US residents.
Is Nachman a common name?
We classify Nachman as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 711 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nachman most popular?
The single biggest year for Nachman was 2012, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nachman is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nachman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 545 people with the name Nachman, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,414 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nachman in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nachman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nachman appears almost entirely male. Of the 539 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nachman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nachman is White at 96.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.8%) and Black (0.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nachman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nachman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.3% (525 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nachman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nachman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nachman in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nachman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nachman in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nachman can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Nachman?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.