Evan
A Welsh masculine name meaning "young warrior" or "the Lord is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 278,256 living Americans carry the first name Evan. It sits at #143 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (98.4% of registrations). The average person named Evan today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Evan births was 2007 (10,410 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Evan. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Evan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Evan is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 4,675 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
278K
~ 1 in 1,232 Americans
Peak year
2007
10,410 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#143
Tracked since 1880
Census
Evan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 254,262 people with the first name Evan, which placed it at #214 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
#214
National first-name rank
People counted
254K
254,262 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
84.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Evan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Evan is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.7%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Evan 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 Evan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.3% · 191,368
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 27,274
- Two or more races5.0% · 12,652
- Black or African American4.3% · 10,980
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 10,672
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1,316
Gender
Gender distribution for Evan
Evan leans heavily male at 98.4% of total registrations, but 4,675 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Evan as a male name
- Ranked #143 in 2024
- 2,526 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2007 (10,295 births)
Evan as a female name
- Ranked #2,775 in 2024
- 61 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (141 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Evan leans strongly male. 250,088 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 4,167 female bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Evan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Evan from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 93,197 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Evan 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 Evan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Evans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Evan, while Wyoming, Alaska, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5,539 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Evan
The name Evan is of Welsh origin, derived from the word "Iefan," which itself is a variation of the Hebrew name "John," meaning "God is gracious" or "Yahweh is merciful." It emerged as a distinct name during the Middle Ages in Wales.
Evan was initially used as a Welsh form of the name John, but over time it developed its own distinct identity. The earliest recorded use of the name Evan dates back to the 13th century in Welsh literature and historical records.
One of the earliest known figures with the name Evan was Evan Sais, a Welsh poet and clergyman who lived in the late 13th century. He is best known for his satirical poems and his involvement in theological disputes.
In the 15th century, Evan Vaughan was a prominent Welsh soldier and landowner who fought in the Wars of the Roses. He played a significant role in the Battle of Mortimer's Cross in 1461.
During the 16th century, Evan Gwyn, also known as Evan Gough, was a renowned Welsh musician and composer who is credited with writing some of the earliest known Welsh harp music.
In the 17th century, Evan Gwynne was a Welsh historian and antiquarian who wrote extensively about the history and culture of Wales. His works, such as "The History of the Gwydir Family," are considered important sources of information about Welsh genealogy and traditions.
Another notable figure with the name Evan was Evan Evans, a Welsh clergyman and scholar who lived in the 18th century. He was known for his translations of Welsh literary works into English and his efforts to promote Welsh culture and language.
These examples illustrate the long-standing association of the name Evan with Welsh culture and its rich literary and historical heritage. While the name has since gained popularity in other parts of the world, its origins can be traced back to the ancient Welsh language and the traditions of Wales.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Evan
People
Evan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Evan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with E
Other first names starting with E with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Evan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Evan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 278,256 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Evan 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 1,232 US residents.
Is Evan a common name?
We classify Evan as "Common". It ranks above 99.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 289,934 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Evan most popular?
The single biggest year for Evan was 2007, when 10,410 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Evan is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Evan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 254,262 people with the name Evan, or 84.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #214 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 Evan 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 Evan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Evan leans strongly male. 250,088 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 4,167 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Evan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Evan is White at 75.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.7%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Evan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Evan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.3% (191,368 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 Evan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Evan a male name?
Yes, 98.4% of people registered as Evan 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 Evan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Evan 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 Evan 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 are called Evan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.