Bohdan
Of Slavic origin, meaning "to bestow gifts from God".
Name Census estimates that about 764 living Americans carry the first name Bohdan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bohdan today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bohdan births was 1952 (35 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bohdan. 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.
People living today
764
~ 1 in 448,631 Americans
Peak year
1952
35 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,573
Tracked since 1917
Popularity
Bohdan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bohdan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 218 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Bohdan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bohdan 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 Bohdan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bohdans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Bohdan, while Colorado, Florida, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bohdan
The given name Bohdan has its origins in the Slavic languages, particularly Ukrainian and Polish. It is derived from the Old Slavic words "bogŭ" meaning "god" and "danŭ" meaning "given", suggesting the meaning "gift of God" or "God-given".
This name was historically popular among the Eastern Slavic peoples, including Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians. It has been used since at least the 11th century, as evidenced by historical records from the Kievan Rus' period.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Bohdan can be found in the Primary Chronicle, an early medieval history of the Kievan Rus'. The chronicle mentions a Bohdan who was a military commander and courtier of Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev in the 10th century.
Another notable historical figure with the name Bohdan was Bohdan Khmelnytsky (1595-1657), a Hetman of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate who led an uprising against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the mid-17th century. His rebellion played a crucial role in the establishment of an autonomous Cossack state and the eventual incorporation of much of modern-day Ukraine into the Russian Empire.
In the realm of literature, the name Bohdan appears in the works of prominent Ukrainian writer Ivan Franko (1856-1916), who wrote a historical novel titled "Bohdan Khmelnytsky" about the life and exploits of the Cossack leader.
A more contemporary figure with the name Bohdan was Bohdan Stupka (1941-2012), a renowned Ukrainian actor and theater director who received numerous awards and honors for his contributions to the arts.
Another notable individual with this name was Bohdan Hawrylyshyn (1926-2016), a Ukrainian-Canadian economist and author who served as the chairman of the International Management Institute in Geneva and wrote extensively on issues of management and economic development.
While the name Bohdan has its roots in the Slavic cultural sphere, it has also gained some popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among diaspora communities with connections to Eastern Europe.
People
Bohdan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bohdan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Bohdan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bohdan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 764 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bohdan 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 448,631 US residents.
Is Bohdan a common name?
We classify Bohdan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 894 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bohdan most popular?
The single biggest year for Bohdan was 1952, when 35 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bohdan is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bohdan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bohdan in the SSA data are male. 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.