An
A Chinese/Vietnamese feminine name meaning "Peace" or "Tranquility".
Name Census estimates that about 2,387 living Americans carry the first name An. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 55.2% of registrations being female. The average person named An today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of An births was 2016 (73 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for An. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • An sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
2.4K
~ 1 in 143,592 Americans
Peak year
2016
73 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,313
Tracked since 1946
Gender
Gender distribution for An
An is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 2,458 total registrations, 1,101 (44.8%) were male and 1,357 (55.2%) were female.
An as a male name
- Ranked #4,313 in 2024
- 24 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (32 births)
An as a female name
- Ranked #4,373 in 2024
- 32 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2010 (47 births)
Popularity
An: popularity over time
The SSA tracks An from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 618 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, An remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
An by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name An during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named An, while Washington, Virginia, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 134 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of An
The name An is a short form of the Germanic name Ansgar, which means "god's spear" or "divine spear". It originated from the Old Norse elements "ans" meaning god and "gair" meaning spear. The name first appeared in written records around the 8th century AD, during the reign of the Carolingian dynasty in Europe.
The earliest known bearer of the name was Saint Ansgar, also known as the Apostle of the North, who lived from 801 to 865 AD. He was a Christian missionary who helped spread Christianity in Scandinavia. His efforts led to the conversion of many Norsemen and the establishment of churches in Denmark and Sweden.
Another notable figure with the name An was An Lushan, a famous general and rebel leader during the Tang Dynasty in China. He lived from 703 to 757 AD and led a rebellion against the Tang Empire, which ultimately failed but caused significant upheaval and instability.
In medieval Europe, the name An was sometimes used as a shortened form of other names like Andreas, Anselm, or Anthony. One example is An de Valence, a 13th-century English nobleman and military leader who fought in the Eighth Crusade and the Barons' War against King Henry III.
During the Renaissance period, the name An appeared in various literary works, including the play "An Humorous Day's Mirth" by George Chapman, published in 1599. The play features a character named An, but little is known about the significance of the name in the context of the work.
In more recent history, An Changkyun, also known as I.M, is a South Korean singer and rapper who was born in 1994. He is a member of the K-pop group Monsta X and is known for his powerful rap skills and stage presence.
Notable bearers
Famous people named An
People
An + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with An as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with A
Other first names starting with A with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
An: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named An?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,387 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for An going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 143,592 US residents.
Is An a common name?
We classify An as "Rare". It ranks above 94.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,458 babies have been registered with this name.
When was An most popular?
The single biggest year for An was 2016, when 73 babies received the name. The fact that the average living An is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is An a female name?
Yes, 55.2% of people registered as An in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.