Juan
Feminine · “God has been gracious”
Juan is given to boys far more often — 365,606 boys against 2,760 girls since 1880. See Juan as a boy name
Don Juan was invented by a Spanish monk. A friar writing under a pen name put the character on stage in the sixteen-hundreds — a nobleman who seduces and lies and is finally dragged to hell by a statue — and every version since, from Molière to Mozart to Byron, is working from his play.
How old is the name Juan?
Juan first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Juan alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 2,300 people named Juan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Juan most popular?
Juan peaked in 1975, reaching #1527 nationally. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Yohanan to Juan
The story of Juan
Tirso de Molina's play gave Europe a character and a phrase, and the character escaped almost immediately: within fifty years there were French and Italian versions, within two hundred there was an opera that is still performed constantly, and by the nineteenth century the name was a common noun for a particular kind of man. None of that has much to do with the name itself, which was and is one of the most ordinary in the Spanish-speaking world — the equivalent of John, given to millions of men who have never given the play a thought. It is a good example of how a name can carry a reference that almost none of its bearers intends.
Meaning
God has been gracious
From the Hebrew name behind John, through Greek and Latin into Spanish. It is the shortest surviving form of what is probably the most-used name in European history.
How the name formed
- Yohanan
- Iohannes
- Juan
Related forms: John · Giovanni · Jean · Joao · Ivan · Joan
Pronouncing Juan
HWAHN
One syllable in Spanish, beginning with a throaty h and a glide. American English often gives it two, WAHN or hoo-AHN.
Nicknames for Juan
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
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 198370 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1527reached in 1975
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%6 in 2024, from 6
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.
Juan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- John in English — same name
- Giovanni in Italian — same name
- Jean in French — same name
- Joao in Portuguese — same name
- Ivan in Russian — same name
- Joan in Catalan — same name
Juans among us
people named Juan are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Juan sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is understood on sight across the entire Spanish-speaking world.
- It has a form in every European language, which almost no other name can claim.
- Four letters and one syllable, which sits well in front of any surname.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- English speakers regularly lose the h at the front or add a syllable.
- The Don Juan reference is unavoidable and not always welcome.
- In many Spanish-speaking families the name is expected as a compound, Juan Carlos or Juan Pablo.
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What they receive
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Juan
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Juans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Juan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Juan in 2025?
- Juan is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Juan with classmates?
- Juan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More J names
The most-given names starting with J, all years combined.
Jennifer#586 · Jessica#665 · Janet#2778 · Julie#872 · Joyce#1071 · Joan#1085 · Julia#131 · Jean#2117
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Juan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Juan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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