Nathaniel Fitzwilliam Archibald, or Nate, is a main character in the best selling Gossip Girl book series. He is portrayed by Chace Crawford in the TV series.

Nathaniel Archibald is a "Waspoid", good-looking lacrosse player at the elite St. Jude's School for Boys. His mother, Ms. Archibald, is a French socialite, and his father, Captain Howie, is a former Navy captain and a wealthy banker. He smokes copious amounts of marijuana and was once caught and sent to rehab for buying a dime bag in the park. Nate's buddies are Anthony, Charlie, and Jeremy. Throughout the series he is a very close, if on-again, off-again, friend of both Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodsen. Nate's family resides in gracious townhouse right off Park Avenue on the exclusive Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, and his mother's French socialite family owns a summer home in Nice. He is a fan of sailing like his father, and wished to do that instead of attending Yale with then-girlfriend Blair, although he expressed interest in attending Brown University, and in the end of the series he sails around the world with a friend of his father's, Captain Chips White.

Nathaniel Archibald was born to Howard Archibald, a successful business magnate, and Anne Archibald. Nate is close friends with Chuck Bass, with whom he attends the prestigious St. Jude's School for boys. His girlfriend Blair Waldorf, is his one true love, but he takes a long time to discover the depth of his love.

Nate grew up with his two best friends- the girl he has always loved, Blair Waldorf, and Serena van der Woodsen. After Serena departs for boarding school after their one-night-stand, Nate continues to date Blair. When Serena returns, however, tensions are stirred up. He confesses to Blair about his affair, but she does not end their relationship. He confesses to Jenny (who he mistakenly thinks is Serena) that he is not over Serena. This is the final straw for Blair. While Nate wants to attend a college out West (with a preference for University of Southern California), his father pressures him to attend Dartmouth College. Nate soon learns that his dad is struggling with a cocaine addiction and confronts his father about it, only to be violently attacked. Blair watches from the window and later breaks up with him. He grills his best friend, Chuck Bass, for information about Blair, and receives a false impression that Blair is dating Carter Baizen, a sworn enemy of Nate. After going to Monaco with Chuck over winter vacation, Nate returns and Blair gives him the cold shoulder. However, after he attempts to save her from expulsion and gets suspended in the process, the two begin dating again until he learns about the secret relationship between Blair and Chuck. After the last episode produced prior to the writers' strike, he is left without a girlfriend and a best friend, and is shown to have hit rock bottom.