Nosson
A masculine given name of Hebrew origin meaning "gift" or "dedicated."
Name Census estimates that about 810 living Americans carry the first name Nosson. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nosson today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nosson births was 2012 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nosson. 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 Nosson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
810
~ 1 in 423,154 Americans
Peak year
2012
58 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,506
Tracked since 1983
Census
Nosson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 644 people with the first name Nosson, which placed it at #17,227 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
#17,227
National first-name rank
People counted
644
644 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nosson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nosson is White at 97.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.1%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Nosson 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 Nosson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.2% · 626
- Two or more races1.1% · 7
- Black or African American0.6% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino0.5% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 1
Popularity
Nosson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nosson from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 379 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nosson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nosson 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 Nosson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nossons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nosson
The name Nosson has its origins in the Hebrew language and Jewish culture. It is a variant spelling of the name Nathan, which derives from the Hebrew word "natan" meaning "to give" or "he gave." This name has been in use since ancient times and is found in various texts from the Bible and other religious scriptures.
One of the earliest and most notable bearers of the name is the biblical figure Nathan the Prophet, who lived during the reign of King David in the 10th century BCE. Nathan played a significant role in the succession of King Solomon and is mentioned in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including the Book of Samuel and the Book of Kings.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Nosson or Nathan. In the 12th century, Rabbi Nosson of Trebizond was a prominent Jewish scholar and author of the work "Sefer HaAruch," a comprehensive dictionary of the Talmud. Another notable figure was Nathan ben Yehiel, a 12th-century French rabbi and author of the influential work "Arukh," a dictionary of the Talmud and Midrash.
In the 18th century, Nosson Adler (1741-1800) was a German-Jewish scholar and author of the work "Netiv Binah," a commentary on the Mishnah. In the 19th century, Nosson Hirsch Kalischer (1795-1865) was a renowned rabbi and one of the pioneers of the Zionist movement, advocating for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
More recently, Nosson Tzvi Finkel (1849-1927) was a prominent Lithuanian-born rabbi and rosh yeshiva (head of a rabbinical seminary) in the early 20th century. He played a crucial role in the development of the Lithuanian yeshiva system and the spread of Torah education.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Nosson or its variant spellings. The name has endured for centuries and continues to be used within the Jewish community, carrying on its rich cultural and historical significance.
People
Nosson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nosson 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
Nosson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nosson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 810 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nosson 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 423,154 US residents.
Is Nosson a common name?
We classify Nosson as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 819 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nosson most popular?
The single biggest year for Nosson was 2012, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nosson is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nosson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 644 people with the name Nosson, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,227 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 Nosson 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 Nosson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nosson appears almost entirely male. Of the 642 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Nosson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nosson is White at 97.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.1%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Nosson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nosson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.2% (626 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 Nosson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nosson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nosson 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 Nosson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nosson 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 Nosson 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 many people have Nosson as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.