Levan
Masculine · “Greek leon”
Armenian and Georgian each have an alphabet made for them, by a known person, at a known date. Mesrop Mashtots devised the Armenian one around 405 and, by tradition, the Georgian too. Levan is a name that has been written in three scripts and belongs fully to none of the languages that lent it.
How old is the name Levan?
Levan first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Levan alive today was born around 1962, making them about 63 years old. About 400 people named Levan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Levan most popular?
Levan peaked in 1951, reaching #2246 nationally. Today it ranks #8910, 6,664 places below that high. See the whole 1951 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From leon to Levan
The story of Levan
Mesrop Mashtots created the Armenian alphabet around 405 to translate scripture into a language that had been written, if at all, in borrowed Greek and Syriac letters. It is one of very few alphabets whose invention is a documented historical event with a named author, a purpose and a date; Georgian and Caucasian Albanian are traditionally credited to him as well, and the Cyrillic and Glagolitic scripts have a comparable story in Cyril and Methodius. The consequence for names is that the Caucasus has a shared pool of Greek, Persian and Christian names written in mutually unreadable scripts. Leon becomes Levon in Armenian and Levan in Georgian, the same name in two alphabets neither community can read in the other's letters, and it reaches American records in a third.
Meaningscholars disagree
Greek leon, lion
Levan is a standard Georgian man's name, generally traced through Armenian Levon to Greek Leon, lion, the name of Byzantine emperors and Armenian kings. It was borne by several kings of Kakheti and Kartli. A separate Vietnamese sequence, Le Van, produces the same string in American records but is a surname plus a middle element rather than a given name. The peak is 1951.
How the name formed
- leon
- Levon
- Levan
Related forms: Levan · Levon · Leon
Pronouncing Levan
leh-VAN
Two syllables, stress on the second in Georgian. American speakers often say LEE-van or LEV-un. The spelling does not settle it.
Nicknames for Levan
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
- 197814 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2246reached in 1951
- Change vs 2020
- +14.3%8 in 2025, from 7
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.
Levan in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Levan in Georgian — same name
- Levon in Armenian — same name
- Leon in Greek — related form
Levans among us
people named Levan are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 213,510 born in 2025 was named Levan
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 Bertrum test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Levan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bertrum climbed just as high around 1935, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bertrum's path sketches the road Levan is walking now.
Levan 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
Levan beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Levan in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Lev and Van are both complete names as short forms.
- It is one of the commonest men's names in Georgia.
- Five letters and two syllables, easy to say.
- The stress placement is ambiguous to English readers.
- A Vietnamese sequence produces the same spelling.
- It is unfamiliar to most Americans.
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Levan
Masculine · #8910 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Levans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 400 people named Levan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Levan in 2025?
- Levan ranks #8910 among US boy names in 2025, with 8 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Levan?
- About 1 in every 213,510 US boys born in 2025 was named Levan — 8 in all.
- Will my child share the name Levan with classmates?
- Levan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Levan
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Davie#8910 · Ned#8910 · Darious#8910 · Alois#8910 · Len#8910 · Barton#8910 · Desmon#8910 · Winfield#8910
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Levan? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Levan and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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