Evan
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Evan is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 287,701 boys against 4,725 girls since 1880. See Evan as a girl name
Evan reached English from Welsh, where Ifan and Ieuan had been carrying the name John for centuries before anyone tidied them for English mouths. Five letters, two syllables, and no gap at all between how it looks and how it sounds. It has been on American records since records began, and still turns up in this year's classrooms.
How old is the name Evan?
Evan was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Evan alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 275,000 people named Evan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Evan most popular?
Evan peaked in 2009, reaching #35 nationally. Today it ranks #153, 118 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Evan
The story of Evan
Latin Iohannes entered Welsh as Ieuan, softened to Ifan, and was written Evan when Welsh names were put into English spelling. The surname Evans — 'son of Evan' — became one of the most common in Wales, which tells you how ordinary the given name already was there. Welsh emigration carried both to America, where Evan settled in as a first name in its own right rather than a translation of anything. Separately, Highland Scots used Evan on paper for the Gaelic Eòghann or Ewen, so the spelling arrived in English by two roads at once, from two different languages.
Meaning
God is gracious
Evan is the anglicized form of Welsh Ifan, a Welsh version of John, from Hebrew Yohanan, 'Yahweh is gracious'. In Scotland the same spelling was also used to write the unrelated Gaelic name Eòghann, so a Scottish Evan may sit on a different root — but the Welsh line is the one that gave the name to English.
Cultural footprint
Evan Peters (b. 1987) — Emmy-winning American Horror Story shapeshifter
Evan Spiegel (b. 1990) — Co-founded Snapchat
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Iohannes
- Ieuan
- Ifan
- Evan
Related forms: Ieuan · Ifan · John · Eoin · Juan · Ivan
Pronouncing Evan
EV-un
Stress on the first syllable, rhyming with 'heaven' minus the h. The Welsh forms behind it sound different — Ifan is closer to EE-van, Ieuan closer to YAY-an — and French speakers, where the name also charts, tend toward eh-VAHN with the stress at the back.
Nicknames for Evan
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 200710,295 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #35reached in 2009
- Change vs 2022
- −15.2%2,412 in 2025, from 2,845
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.
Evan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ieuan in Welsh — same name
- Ifan in Welsh — same name
- John in English — related form
- Eoin in Irish — related form
- Juan in Spanish — related form
- Ivan in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. INSEE rounds every published count to the nearest five for statistical confidentiality; the ranks are calculated from the exact figures. International figures from Statistics Canada, INSEE. Sources
Evans among us
people named Evan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 708 born in 2025 was named Evan
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 Travis test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Evan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Travis climbed just as high around 1979, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Travis's path sketches the road Evan is walking now.
Evan is coming down from a big peak (#35 in 2009). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Evan is headed
Evan is easing off slowly — about 16% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High 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.
Evan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Evan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled exactly as it sounds in English, so it survives phone calls, forms and roll calls without correction.
- Charts in Canada and France as well as the United States, so it crosses borders without becoming a different word.
- A documented line running back through Welsh Ifan and Ieuan to John — one of the longest continuous records any Western name has.
- Short enough to need no nickname, with 'Ev' available if one is wanted.
- Well known across generations without being crowded: most Evans will be the only one in their school.
- Evan and Ethan sit one consonant apart, and Ethan is far more common. Expect the occasional mishearing, especially in noisy rooms and over the phone.
- Ewan, Evann and Evin all exist, and Owen sounds close enough to be substituted by people in a hurry. The base spelling is the one most Americans will guess, but not the only one out there.
- The name resists shortening. If you like giving a child a long formal name with a smaller everyday version, Evan does not really offer that.
- 'Ev' also serves Eva, Evelyn and Evie, all strongly feminine in current American use — worth knowing if the nickname is likely to stick.
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What they receive
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Evan
Masculine · #153 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Evans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 275,000 people named Evan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Evan in 2025?
- Evan ranks #153 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,412 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Evan?
- About 1 in every 708 US boys born in 2025 was named Evan — 2,412 in all.
- Will my child share the name Evan with classmates?
- Evan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Evan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Emilio#154 · Bryson#152 · Jude#155 · Elliot#151 · Jaxson#156 · Carlos#150 · Colter#157 · Greyson#149
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Evan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Evan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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