Given name & surname · also Late Latin
Anatole
“born with the break of day”
Anatole is used as a given name and a surname. One Greek interpretation is “born with the break of day.”
Original Ancient GreekἈνατολή
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Greek interpretation is “born with the break of day.”
Where it comes from
This spelling has been associated with Late Latin and Greek naming traditions.
How it developed
In English usage, Anatole developed from Ἀνατολή.
The story
The name’s historical associations include an early bishop of Cahors and a 9th-century Scottish bishop.
Anatole through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 204
- 204 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1918
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 5
- #12,139 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 5 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 12,139 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 376 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Anatole’s family of names
In French usage, Anatole has a diminutive in TOLE. In English usage, Anatole shares a linguistic root with Anatoli. Anatole has a related form in Anatoly.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Anatole has relatives in 11 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Anatole comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 15
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 8
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Anatole
- Anatole FranceFrench writer (1844–1924)
- Anatole LitvakUkrainian-American filmmaker (1902–1974)
- Anatole AbragamFrench physicist (1914-2011)
- Anatole Collinet MakossoRepublic of the Congo politicianborn 1965
- Anatole Le BrazBreton writer and scholar (1859–1926)
- Anatole Novakroad bicycle racer (1937–2022)
- Anatole MalletSwiss mechanical engineer (1837-1919)
- Anatole de MonzieFrench politician (1876–1947)
- Anatole VakhnianynUkrainian composer, public leader and writer (1841–1908)
Characters named Anatole: Anatole Kuragin (Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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