Pang
Feminine
Pang is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 615 girls against 11 boys since 1880.
Pang is a one-syllable name found above all among Hmong-American families, often in names that evoke flowers. By coincidence it is spelled like an English word for a sudden sharp feeling, a word whose origin nobody knows.
How old is the name Pang?
Pang first appears in US birth records in 1978 — 47 years ago. The typical Pang alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 600 people named Pang are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Pang most popular?
Pang peaked in 1984, reaching #2227 nationally. See the whole 1984 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Pang
Hmong needlework is called paj ntaub, 'flower cloth', a tradition of intricate stitched and appliquéd patterns; in the refugee camps of Thailand after the war in Laos, Hmong women began stitching story cloths that told their history in pictures, and sold them to survive. Pang carries the sound of that flower word. It also happens to be spelled like the English pang, a sudden pain or longing, which turns up in the sixteenth century and whose source nobody has found. A small name, then, with a flower in it and a feeling beside it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Pang is used by Hmong-American families, often as an American spelling of a name connected with flowers, but no single source is documented; it is also a Chinese surname. The record holds only the spelling.
Pronouncing Pang
PAHNG
One syllable; Hmong speakers give it a tone that the English spelling does not show.
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
- 1978
- Most girls named
- 198444 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2227reached in 1984
- Change vs 1998
- +83.3%11 in 1999, 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.
Pangs among us
people named Pang 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
Pang 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
- Short and easy to write.
- Rooted in Hmong-American family tradition.
- Distinctive.
- English speakers will hear the word pang.
- The tone that matters in Hmong is lost in English spelling.
- The spelling is recorded for a handful of boys, but it is overwhelmingly a girl's name.
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Pang
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Pangs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Pang are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Pang in 2025?
- Pang is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Pang with classmates?
- Pang will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More P names
The most-given names starting with P, all years combined.
Patricia#1334 · Pamela#2239 · Phyllis#11932 · Peggy#8362 · Paula#853 · Pauline#2957 · Pearl#776 · Paige#346
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Pang? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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