Yan

Meaning: God is gracious
Origin: Variant of John (from Hebrew)

Boy's name · #2386 in the US (2025) · Trending

Popularity over time

Yan is climbing: on the charts since 1971, it reached #2386 in 2025 — its strongest showing yet, with about 60 boys given the name last year. Roughly 990 have carried it all-time.

Across the states

See where Yan is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 2 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Yan ranks in other countries and regions.

#220 in Poland (2025) · #1,039 in Ecuador (2025) · #1,559 in Belgium (2025) · #1,818 in Austria (2025) · #1,898 in Switzerland (2025) · #2,925 in England & Wales (2025) · #3,080 in France (2025) · #2,125 in Canada (2024).

Famous Yans

Yan Diomande — Ivorian footballer
Yan Couto — Brazilian footballer (born 2002)
Yan Valery — Tunisian-French footballer (born 1999)
Yan Gamarnik — Soviet general (1894–1937)
Yan Frenkel — Ukrainian composer (1920-1989)

In stories & tradition

Yan Qing — Water Margin (book)
Yan Shun — Water Margin (book)
Yan Zheng^it — The Romance of the Three Kingdoms (book)

What Yans become

Among 700 notable people named Yan:

Scientists & scholars appear 1.58× more often than among typical names — e.g. Yan Shpil'rein, Russian mathematician.

Similar names: Yanis · Shmiel · Iam · Shloimy · Ilian · Yaziel

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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