Jan
A masculine variant or diminutive of John or Johannes, meaning "God is gracious."
Name Census estimates that about 53,632 living Americans carry the first name Jan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Jan today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jan births was 1954 (3,759 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jan. 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 Jan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Jan have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
54K
~ 1 in 6,391 Americans
Peak year
1954
3,759 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,211
Tracked since 1902
Census
Jan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 81,847 people with the first name Jan, which placed it at #645 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
#645
National first-name rank
People counted
82K
81,847 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
27.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jan is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Jan 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 Jan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.3% · 69,782
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 4,466
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 3,011
- Black or African American3.4% · 2,769
- Two or more races1.9% · 1,528
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 291
Gender
Gender distribution for Jan
Jan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 76,882 total registrations, 22,355 (29.1%) were male and 54,527 (70.9%) were female.
Jan as a male name
- Ranked #2,211 in 2024
- 65 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1954 (767 births)
Jan as a female name
- Ranked #16,248 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 1956 (3,201 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jan on both sides of the split. Of the 81,839 people counted with this name, 25,968 were male (31.7%) and 55,871 were female (68.3%).
Popularity
Jan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jan from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 31,892 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jan 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 Jan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Jan, while Alaska, Nevada, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,361 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Jan
The name Jan is a masculine given name derived from the Latin name Ianuarius, which means "of Janus" or "related to the Roman god Janus". Janus was the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, gates, doors, and endings, often depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions.
The name Jan has its origins in ancient Rome and was initially used as a name to honor or commemorate the deity Janus. It later spread across Europe, particularly in regions influenced by Latin or Roman culture, such as Italy, France, and the Iberian Peninsula.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Jan appears in the Bible's New Testament, where the apostle John is referred to as "Ioannes" in the original Greek text, a variant of the Latin "Ianuarius" or "Ioannus".
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Jan. One of the most famous is the Dutch painter Jan Vermeer (1632-1675), renowned for his masterpieces like "The Girl with a Pearl Earring" and "The Milkmaid".
Another prominent Jan was the Polish astronomer Jan Heweliusz (1611-1687), who made significant contributions to lunar cartography and the study of comets.
In the realm of literature, the Czech writer Jan Neruda (1834-1891) is celebrated for his poetic works and his depictions of life in Prague during the 19th century.
The name Jan has also been associated with religious figures, such as Jan Hus (c. 1369-1415), a Czech priest and philosopher who played a pivotal role in the Hussite religious movement and the Protestant Reformation.
In the political sphere, Jan Smuts (1870-1950) was a prominent South African statesman who served as Prime Minister and made significant contributions to the formation of the League of Nations and the United Nations.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have carried the name Jan throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence across various cultures and disciplines.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Jan
People
Jan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 53,632 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jan 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 6,391 US residents.
Is Jan a common name?
We classify Jan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 76,882 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jan most popular?
The single biggest year for Jan was 1954, when 3,759 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jan is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 81,847 people with the name Jan, or 27.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #645 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 Jan 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 Jan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jan on both sides of the split. Of the 81,839 people counted with this name, 25,968 were male (31.7%) and 55,871 were female (68.3%). 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 Jan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jan is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (5.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.7%). 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 Jan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (69,782 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 Jan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jan a female name?
Yes, 70.9% of people registered as Jan 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.
Is Jan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jan 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 Jan 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 named Jan?
Want to know how many people share the name Jan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.