An
Feminine · “peace”
An is given to both — 1,393 girls and 1,126 boys since 1880. See An as a boy nameSee other names given to both
An is a Vietnamese and Chinese word for peace and safety, and it is written with a character showing a woman under a roof.
How old is the name An?
An first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical An alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 1,400 people named An are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name An most popular?
An peaked in 2015, reaching #3389 nationally. Today it ranks #3975, 586 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
An appears on this list:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of An
An is one of the most-used elements in Vietnamese and Chinese naming and appears in place names across both — Xi'an means western peace, An Nam means pacified south. The word is used as a complete personal name in Vietnamese for both sexes and reaches American records with Vietnamese families from the 1970s onward.
Meaning
peace, safety, tranquility
From the Sino-Vietnamese an, peace or security, the same word as Chinese ān; the character combines the elements for a roof and a woman, and the word appears in an enormous number of compounds about safety and calm.
Pronouncing An
AHN
One syllable with a tone in Vietnamese that English does not carry.
Nicknames for An
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 201547 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3389reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- +12.5%36 in 2025, from 32
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
An in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- An in Vietnamese — same name
- 安 in Chinese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Massachusetts.
Ans among us
people named An are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 44,646 born in 2025 was named An
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of An
- #3975
- An on the 2025 chart
- #704
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. An went to 36 girls in 2025, but Ann is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 261, which makes it the 704th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,271 places above the chart.
- Ann225
- An36
About 1 girl in 6,158 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 44,646 for An itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Janica test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. An's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Janica climbed just as high around 1978, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Janica's path sketches the road An is walking now.
An sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where An is headed
An should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
An beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to An in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely good sense and a vivid written character.
- Two letters and one syllable — as short as a name can be.
- Used across Vietnamese and Chinese naming, so it has an enormous community.
- English speakers read it as the indefinite article, which is unavoidable.
- Forms and systems will reject a two-letter name.
- It is used for both sexes in Vietnamese, so forms may guess wrong.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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An
Feminine · #3975 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Ans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,400 people named An are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell An?
- An is one of 2 recorded spellings. Ann is the more common one — 225 births in 2025 against 36 for An.
- How popular is the name An in 2025?
- An ranks #3975 among US girl names in 2025, with 36 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name An?
- About 1 in every 44,646 US girls born in 2025 was named An — 36 in all.
- Will my child share the name An with classmates?
- An will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside An
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rubie#3975 · Bradley#3975 · Jodi#3975 · Ilianna#3975 · Saja#3975 · Ansleigh#3975 · Sarayah#3975 · Dorcas#3975
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles An? See the current top 100.
Choosing between An and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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