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Jan

Masculine · “God is gracious”

Jan is given to both — 22,403 boys and 54,531 girls since 1880. See Jan as a girl nameSee other names given to both

1902high 1951
#2718 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare47 boys in 2025

Jan is John in Dutch and Polish, and in both it is about as ordinary as a man's name gets — the equivalent of John in England or Juan in Spain.

How old is the name Jan?

Jan first appears in US birth records in 1902 — 123 years ago. The typical Jan alive today was born around 1956, making them about 69 years old. About 15,500 people named Jan are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Jan most popular?

Jan peaked in 1944, reaching #247 nationally. Today it ranks #2718, 2,471 places below that high. See the whole 1944 chart.

Compare this nameMore “J” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Jan

John was the most-given man's name in Europe for a thousand years, and the Low Countries and Poland both settled on Jan as the ordinary form — Jan van Eyck, Jan Sobieski. Dutch and Polish emigration brought it to America, where it appears in the registers as a man's name throughout, peaking around 1955 even as the feminine Jan was much commoner.

Meaning

God is gracious

From the Hebrew Yohanan — 'the Lord is gracious' — through the Latin Johannes. Dutch, Polish, Czech and the Scandinavian languages all contracted Johannes to Jan, which is the standard form in each. The meaning has never been in doubt.

How the name formed

  1. Yohanan
  2. Johannes
  3. Jan

Related forms: Jan · Jan · Jan · John

Pronouncing Jan

YAHN

One syllable, said YAHN in Dutch, Polish and Czech. American English usually says JAN, which is how the feminine name is said.

Nicknames for Jan

Moderate

JanekThe standard Polish diminutive, warm and widely used
JantjeThe Dutch diminutive, formed with the -tje ending Dutch uses for everything
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1902–202573236607324719022025

US babies named Jan per year from 1902 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#2471900s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1902
Most boys named
1951732 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#247reached in 1944
Change vs 2023
−31.9%47 in 2025, from 69
Jan sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 1951, with 732 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Jan in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Jan in Dutch — same name
  • Jan in Polish — same name
  • Jan in Czech — same name
  • John in English — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, Illinois, California.

Jans among us

15,500

people named Jan are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 36,342 born in 2025 was named Jan

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Jan

#2718
Jan on the 2025 chart
#876
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Jan went to 47 boys in 2025, but Jaan is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 52, which makes it the 876th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,842 places above the chart.

  • Jan47
  • Jaan5

About 1 boy in 32,848 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 36,342 for Jan 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

III

Is it right for you

The Elmo test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Jan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Elmo climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Elmo's path sketches the road Jan is walking now.

40%chance Jan will feel dated by 2040
Jan, aligned on its peakElmo· peak 1909not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-40 yrs+70 yrsElmo · #2225Jan today
Jan today is about where Elmo stood in 1990 — 81 years past a #247-sized peak. By 2005, Elmo had settled around #9049.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Jan 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 Jan is headed

19022030

US babies named Jan per year, 1902 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Jan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady+2% by 2030projected around #2,797 in 2030

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.

Jan beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Jan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Janthis name47#2718Einar47#2718Kurtis47#2718Sasha47#2718Jovany47#2718

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • It is the standard form of John across four European languages.
  • Three letters, one syllable, and never misspelled.
  • It carries a very large and well-documented body of European bearers.
What to consider
  • In American English the spelling reads as feminine and is said quite differently.
  • The continental and English pronunciations are far apart.

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Jan

Masculine · #2718 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Jans are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 15,500 people named Jan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Jan?
Jan is the most-used spelling in US records — 47 of the 52 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Jaan.
How popular is the name Jan in 2025?
Jan ranks #2718 among US boy names in 2025, with 47 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Jan?
About 1 in every 36,342 US boys born in 2025 was named Jan — 47 in all.
Will my child share the name Jan with classmates?
Jan will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Jan

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Einar#2718 · Kurtis#2718 · Sasha#2718 · Jovany#2718 · Ahsan#2718 · Xavien#2718 · Yassin#2718 · Unknown#2718

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Jan? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Jan and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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