Khang
Masculine · “health”
Khang is Vietnamese for health and wellbeing: the second half of an khang, the phrase for peace and good health that appears in New Year greetings across the country. It is one of a set of Vietnamese boys' names taken from qualities a family wishes on a child rather than from people.
How old is the name Khang?
Khang first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Khang alive today was born around 2006, making them about 19 years old. About 1,200 people named Khang are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Khang most popular?
Khang peaked in 1990, reaching #2373 nationally. Today it ranks #4857, 2,484 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Khang
Vietnamese given names are usually ordinary words, chosen for their sense and often for how they sit with the middle name, and a large share of them come through Sino-Vietnamese, the layer of Chinese vocabulary that entered the language over a thousand years of contact. Khang belongs to that layer. It has been given steadily in Vietnam and became visible in American records after the migrations that followed 1975, in California, Texas and Washington especially.
Meaning
health; wellbeing; peace
Sino-Vietnamese khang, from a Chinese character meaning healthy, peaceful and at ease. It appears in the fixed phrase an khang, safety and health, which is among the commonest things said at the lunar new year.
Pronouncing Khang
KAHNG
One syllable. Vietnamese is tonal and the name carries a level tone that English cannot reproduce; the kh is a single aspirated k rather than two sounds.
Nicknames for Khang
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
- 1979
- Most boys named
- 200748 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2373reached in 1990
- Change vs 2024
- +17.6%20 in 2025, from 17
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.
Khang in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Khang in Vietnamese — same name
- 康 in Chinese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas.
Khangs among us
people named Khang are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 85,404 born in 2025 was named Khang
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 Daaiel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Khang's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Daaiel climbed just as high around 1957, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Daaiel's path sketches the road Khang is walking now.
Khang 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
Khang beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Khang in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a plain, warm word that can be stated in one syllable.
- Five letters and one syllable make it quick to write and to say.
- It is immediately recognized in Vietnamese communities anywhere in the world.
- English speakers read the kh as two sounds or as a hard k with an h, and neither is quite right.
- Vietnamese tone cannot be written in English letters, so the name is never quite said correctly outside the family.
- A one-syllable name gives nothing to shorten and no change of register.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Khang
Masculine · #4857 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Khangs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Khang are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Khang in 2025?
- Khang ranks #4857 among US boy names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Khang?
- About 1 in every 85,404 US boys born in 2025 was named Khang — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Khang with classmates?
- Khang will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Khang
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Carlyle#4857 · Russ#4857 · Hercules#4857 · Marcial#4857 · Lauro#4857 · Marin#4857 · Gil#4857 · Aloysius#4857
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Khang? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Khang 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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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