Doan
A Vietnamese given name meaning "good fortune" or "prosperity".
Name Census estimates that about 51 living Americans carry the first name Doan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 68.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Doan today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Doan births was 1982 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Doan. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Doan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
51
~ 1 in 6,720,673 Americans
Peak year
1982
12 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2004 SSA rank
#11,835
Tracked since 1976
Census
Doan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,449 people with the first name Doan, which placed it at #9,545 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,545
National first-name rank
People counted
1.4K
1,449 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
89.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Doan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.4%. The next largest groups are White (7.0%) and Black (1.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Doan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Doan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander89.4% · 1,295
- White7.0% · 101
- Black or African American1.7% · 25
- Two or more races1.0% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 13
Gender
Gender distribution for Doan
Doan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 54 total registrations, 37 (68.5%) were male and 17 (31.5%) were female.
Doan as a male name
- Ranked #11,835 in 2004
- 5 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1981 (9 births)
Doan as a female name
- Ranked #14,374 in 2003
- 6 female births in 2003
- Peak: 1982 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,448 people counted with this name, 761 were male (52.6%) and 687 were female (47.4%).
Popularity
Doan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Doan from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 32 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Doan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Doan 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 Doan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Doan
The name Doan is believed to have originated in Vietnam, deriving from the Vietnamese word "đoàn," which means "group" or "union." It is thought to have emerged as a given name during the medieval period of Vietnamese history, potentially as early as the 11th or 12th century.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Doan can be found in the historical annals of the Tran Dynasty, which ruled Vietnam from 1225 to 1400. These annals mention a prominent military leader named Doan Nhu Hai, who played a significant role in defending the country against Mongol invasions in the late 13th century.
The name Doan also appears in various Vietnamese literary works and folktales from the 15th and 16th centuries. In these stories, characters bearing the name Doan are often depicted as brave, loyal, and dedicated individuals, reflecting the positive connotations associated with the name's meaning.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Doan. One example is Doan Thi Diem (1705-1748), a revered Vietnamese female poet and calligrapher who gained recognition for her exceptional literary talents during the Le Dynasty.
Another prominent individual was Doan Quy Phi (1942-2021), a Vietnamese-American mathematician and computer scientist known for his contributions to the field of coding theory and information theory. He held academic positions at various prestigious universities, including the University of Notre Dame and the University of California, Los Angeles.
In the realm of politics, Doan Van Tuat (1926-2011) was a prominent figure in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. He served as the Minister of Defense and later as the Vice President of the Republic of Vietnam from 1967 to 1975.
Doan Minh Phuong (1975-present) is a contemporary Vietnamese-American entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of a successful technology company and has been actively involved in various charitable initiatives, particularly in the areas of education and healthcare.
Lastly, Doan Van Viet (1963-present) is a renowned Vietnamese-Canadian author and playwright. His works have explored themes of identity, culture, and the experiences of Vietnamese diaspora communities, earning him critical acclaim and numerous literary awards.
People
Doan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Doan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with D
Other first names starting with D with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Doan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Doan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 51 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Doan 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 6,720,673 US residents.
Is Doan a common name?
We classify Doan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 54 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Doan most popular?
The single biggest year for Doan was 1982, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Doan is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Doan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,449 people with the name Doan, or 0.48 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,545 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Doan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Doan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Doan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,448 people counted with this name, 761 were male (52.6%) and 687 were female (47.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Doan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Doan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 89.4%. The next largest groups are White (7.0%) and Black (1.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Doan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Doan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.4% (1,295 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Doan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Doan a male name?
Yes, 68.5% of people registered as Doan 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.
Is Doan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Doan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Doan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people have the name Doan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.