Vann
Masculine · “of”
Vann is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,057 boys against 24 girls since 1880.
Vann has two quite separate ancestries — a Dutch and German particle meaning of, and a Vietnamese name element meaning literature.
How old is the name Vann?
Vann was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Vann alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 1,600 people named Vann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Vann most popular?
Vann peaked in 1880, reaching #909 nationally. Today it ranks #4249, 3,340 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Vann
Ours, offered as ours. Vietnamese Văn is one of the most-used name elements in the world by sheer count: it appears as the middle name of an enormous proportion of Vietnamese men, marking sex the way Thị does for women, and it means literature or culture. Dutch van is a preposition. English Vann is a fen. Three languages, four letters, and the Vietnamese one carries by far the most people.
Meaningscholars disagree
of; or literature
Dutch van means of or from and opens surnames as a place marker. Vietnamese Văn means literature or culture and is one of the commonest middle names for men. English also has a surname Vann from a word for a fen. All three are documented.
Pronouncing Vann
VAN
One syllable. Vietnamese Văn has a tone English does not carry.
Nicknames for Vann
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 200958 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #909reached in 1880
- Change vs 2023
- +9.1%24 in 2025, from 22
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.
Vann in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Văn in Vietnamese — related form
- Van in Dutch — related form
- Van in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina.
Vanns among us
people named Vann are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 71,170 born in 2025 was named Vann
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Vann
- #4249
- Vann on the 2025 chart
- #671
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Vann went to 24 boys in 2025, but Van and Vaan are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 266, which makes it the 671st most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,578 places above the chart.
- Van236
- Vann24
- Vaan6
About 1 boy in 6,421 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 71,170 for Vann itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Vann 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
Vann beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Vann in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and one syllable — as short as a name gets.
- Three real traditions produce it.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- It sounds identical to the English word for a vehicle.
- Van with one n is the more common spelling.
- The three possible sources mean entirely different things.
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Vann
Masculine · #4249 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Vanns are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,600 people named Vann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Vann?
- Vann is one of 3 recorded spellings. Van is the more common one — 236 births in 2025 against 24 for Vann.
- How popular is the name Vann in 2025?
- Vann ranks #4249 among US boy names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Vann?
- About 1 in every 71,170 US boys born in 2025 was named Vann — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Vann with classmates?
- Vann will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Vann
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Guadalupe#4249 · Denny#4249 · Hughes#4249 · Erling#4249 · Rodrick#4249 · Elric#4249 · Ron#4249 · Wright#4249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Vann? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Vann and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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