Milan
A masculine name of Slavic origin, derived from the word meaning "gracious" or "favored".
Name Census estimates that about 23,805 living Americans carry the first name Milan. It sits at #231 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.1% of registrations being male. The average person named Milan today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Milan births was 2023 (1,974 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Milan. 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 Milan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Milan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
24K
~ 1 in 14,398 Americans
Peak year
2023
1,974 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#231
Tracked since 1885
Census
Milan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,225 people with the first name Milan, which placed it at #1,753 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
#1,753
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
17,225 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
36.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Milan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milan is White at 36.0%. The next largest groups are Black (24.0%) and Hispanic (21.8%). 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 Milan 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 Milan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White36.0% · 6,205
- Black or African American24.0% · 4,130
- Hispanic or Latino21.8% · 3,761
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.6% · 2,177
- Two or more races5.3% · 905
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 47
Gender
Gender distribution for Milan
Milan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 26,373 total registrations, 17,180 (65.1%) were male and 9,193 (34.9%) were female.
Milan as a male name
- Ranked #231 in 2024
- 1,552 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,552 births)
Milan as a female name
- Ranked #700 in 2024
- 401 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (479 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Milan on both sides of the split. Of the 17,228 people counted with this name, 11,232 were male (65.2%) and 5,996 were female (34.8%).
Popularity
Milan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Milan from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 9,207 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Milan 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 Milan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Milans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Milan, while Idaho, Rhode Island, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 517 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Milan
The name Milan is believed to have originated from the Slavic word "mil," meaning "gracious" or "favored." Its roots can be traced back to the Slavic tribes that inhabited the regions of modern-day Central and Eastern Europe during the early medieval period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Milan can be found in the Gesta Hungarorum, a 13th-century Latin chronicle that recounts the history of the Hungarian people. The chronicle mentions a Hungarian chieftain named Milan who lived in the 9th century.
In the 14th century, Milan became a popular name among the ruling dynasties of the Balkan region. One notable figure was Milan Obrenović, the Prince of Serbia from 1839 to 1842 and again from 1860 to 1868.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity in Italy, particularly in the city of Milan. One of the most famous Milans from this era was Milan Kunderas, a Serbian-born novelist and philosopher (1929-2019) who wrote works such as "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "The Book of Laughter and Forgetting."
In the 20th century, the name Milan became more widely used across various cultures and regions. One of the most prominent figures was Milan Kundera, a Czech-born writer and philosopher (1929-present), whose novels explored themes of human existence and the complexities of modern life.
Another notable Milan was Milan Rastislav Štefánik (1880-1919), a Slovak astronomer, diplomat, and co-founder of Czechoslovakia. He played a crucial role in the creation of the independent Czechoslovak state after World War I.
In the realm of sports, Milan Tiff (1927-2017) was a Serbian footballer who played as a striker for Red Star Belgrade and the Yugoslav national team in the 1950s. He is considered one of the greatest players in the history of Yugoslav football.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Milan throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence and cultural significance across various regions and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Milan
People
Milan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Milan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with M
Other first names starting with M with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Milan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Milan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 23,805 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Milan 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 14,398 US residents.
Is Milan a common name?
We classify Milan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 26,373 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Milan most popular?
The single biggest year for Milan was 2023, when 1,974 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Milan is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Milan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,225 people with the name Milan, or 5.70 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,753 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 Milan 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 Milan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Milan on both sides of the split. Of the 17,228 people counted with this name, 11,232 were male (65.2%) and 5,996 were female (34.8%). 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 Milan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Milan is White at 36.0%. The next largest groups are Black (24.0%) and Hispanic (21.8%). 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 Milan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Milan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 36.0% (6,205 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 Milan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Milan a male name?
Yes, 65.1% of people registered as Milan 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 Milan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Milan 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 Milan 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 Milan?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Milan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.