Bogdan
Masculine · “given by God”
Bogdan is a Slavic name that reads as a complete statement: given by God. It is one of a small group of native Slavic names that survived the long dominance of Greek and Hebrew ones.
How old is the name Bogdan?
Bogdan first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Bogdan alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 800 people named Bogdan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bogdan most popular?
Bogdan peaked in 1968, reaching #2907 nationally. Today it ranks #3379, 472 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Bogdan
When Slavic peoples became Christian they largely took Greek and Hebrew names, but a handful of native compounds survived, and Bogdan is the clearest — a name that says what Theodore says, in Slavic words. It has been used across Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Romania for centuries, and in Romania it was borne by the founder of Moldavia. It reaches American records with families from all of those countries.
Meaning
given by God
From Slavic bog, God, and dan, given; the construction mirrors the Greek Theodore and the Hebrew Nathaniel, and the three names mean the same thing in three languages.
Pronouncing Bogdan
BOG-dan
Two syllables, first stressed. Some Slavic usages stress the second, bog-DAHN.
Nicknames for Bogdan
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
- 1954
- Most boys named
- 202437 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2907reached in 1968
- Change vs 2024
- −8.1%34 in 2025, from 37
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.
Bogdan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bogdan in Polish — same name
- Bogdan in Romanian — same name
- Богдан in Russian — transliteration
- Theodore in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois, California, Florida.
Bogdans among us
people named Bogdan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 50,238 born in 2025 was named Bogdan
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rogue test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bogdan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rogue climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rogue's path sketches the road Bogdan is walking now.
Bogdan 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 Bogdan is headed
Bogdan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Bogdan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bogdan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that forms a complete sentence in plain Slavic words.
- Dan sits inside it as an entirely ordinary English short form.
- Recognized across the whole Slavic world and in Romania.
- The bog syllable is an ordinary English word for a marsh, and children will find it.
- The stress differs between Slavic traditions and English readers will guess.
- Six letters and two hard consonant clusters make it look heavier than it sounds.
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Bogdan
Masculine · #3379 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bogdans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Bogdan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bogdan in 2025?
- Bogdan ranks #3379 among US boy names in 2025, with 34 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bogdan?
- About 1 in every 50,238 US boys born in 2025 was named Bogdan — 34 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bogdan with classmates?
- Bogdan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bogdan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Art#3379 · Sampson#3379 · Kiernan#3379 · Benyamin#3379 · Quamir#3379 · Madhav#3379 · Tuff#3379 · Hubert#3379
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bogdan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bogdan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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