Javan
Masculine · “Greece”
Javan is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,593 boys against 43 girls since 1880.
Javan is the Hebrew word for Greece — and it is really the word for the Ionians, who were the Greeks the eastern Mediterranean actually met.
How old is the name Javan?
Javan first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Javan alive today was born around 2000, making them about 25 years old. About 3,400 people named Javan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Javan most popular?
Javan peaked in 2004, reaching #1114 nationally. Today it ranks #3949, 2,835 places below that high. See the whole 2004 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yavan to Javan
The story of Javan
Genesis lists Javan among the sons of Japheth, and the prophets use the word for Greece throughout. The Ionian Greeks of the Anatolian coast were the ones Persians, Hebrews and Indians all encountered first, so their name became the name for Greeks everywhere from Jerusalem to the Ganges — a piece of geography preserved in three unrelated languages. Its use as a modern given name is small and American.
Meaning
Greece, the Ionians
From Hebrew Yavan, the standard biblical term for Greece; the word corresponds to Ionia, and the same root appears in Old Persian Yauna and Sanskrit Yavana for the same people. It is a nation's name used as a personal one.
How the name formed
- Yavan
- Javan
Related forms: Yavan · Yavana · Yauna
Pronouncing Javan
JAY-van
Two syllables, first stressed. Hebrew gives yah-VAHN.
Nicknames for Javan
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
- 1916
- Most boys named
- 2004142 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1114reached in 2004
- Change vs 2023
- −15.6%27 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.
Javan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Yavan in Hebrew — same name
- Yavana in Sanskrit — related form
- Yauna in Old Persian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Javans among us
people named Javan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 63,262 born in 2025 was named Javan
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 Raynaldo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Javan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Raynaldo climbed just as high around 1955, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Raynaldo's path sketches the road Javan is walking now.
Javan 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 Javan is headed
Javan 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.
Javan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Javan 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 with a genuinely remarkable piece of linguistic history behind it.
- Van is a complete short form in its own right.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It names a nation rather than a person, which is unusual.
- Javan, Javon and Javen are all close and get confused.
- The English and Hebrew pronunciations differ entirely in stress.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Javan to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Javan
Masculine · #3949 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Javans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,400 people named Javan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Javan in 2025?
- Javan ranks #3949 among US boy names in 2025, with 27 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Javan?
- About 1 in every 63,262 US boys born in 2025 was named Javan — 27 in all.
- Will my child share the name Javan with classmates?
- Javan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Javan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Stewart#3949 · Tillman#3949 · Ashley#3949 · Alfonzo#3949 · Blane#3949 · Brayton#3949 · Omega#3949 · Rufus#3949
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Javan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Javan and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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