Jonathan Family History

English Welsh and Jewish: from the Biblical name Jonathan meaning ‘God has given’ in Hebrew. In the Bible this is the name of a son of King Saul the close friend of the young David whose friendship persisted even when Saul and David are themselves at loggerheads (1 Samuel 31; 2 Samuel 19–26).

In Britain the name is often traceable to Wales and within England it seems rarely if ever to be unambiguously Jewish. The name Jonathan is also found among Christians in southern India but since South Indians traditionally do not have hereditary surnames the southern Indian name was in most cases registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.