Nalan
A feminine name of Tamil origin meaning "beautiful."
Name Census estimates that about 121 living Americans carry the first name Nalan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nalan today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nalan births was 2017 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nalan. 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 Nalan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
121
~ 1 in 2,832,680 Americans
Peak year
2017
15 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,729
Tracked since 2009
Census
Nalan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 229 people with the first name Nalan, which placed it at #35,223 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
#35,223
National first-name rank
People counted
229
229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nalan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nalan is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (30.1%) and Black (7.4%). 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 Nalan 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 Nalan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.0% · 126
- Asian and Pacific Islander30.1% · 69
- Black or African American7.4% · 17
- Two or more races3.9% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 8
Popularity
Nalan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nalan from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 64 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
Nalan 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 Nalan 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 Nalan
The name Nalan has its origins in the Tamil language, which is predominantly spoken in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the neighboring regions. Its earliest roots can be traced back to ancient Tamil literature and inscriptions dating back to the 3rd century BCE.
Nalan is derived from the Tamil word "Nalam," which means "goodness" or "virtue." It was a common name among the Tamil people, particularly among the noble and scholarly classes, as it embodied the virtues and values they aspired to uphold.
In the ancient Tamil epic, the Silappadikaram, dated around the 5th century CE, there is a character named Nalan Kadignar, a celebrated poet and scholar revered for his wisdom and literary contributions. This early reference suggests that the name Nalan was already in use during that period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Nalan was Nalan Chidambaran, a renowned Tamil philosopher and poet who lived in the 9th century CE. He was known for his works on Saiva Siddhanta philosophy and his poetic compositions.
Nalan Kumarasamy Pillai (1827-1899) was a prominent Tamil scholar, educator, and social reformer from the 19th century. He played a significant role in promoting Tamil education and literature, and was instrumental in establishing several educational institutions in Tamil Nadu.
Nalan Chakravarthi Reddy (1924-2022) was an Indian writer, poet, and journalist who made significant contributions to Telugu literature. He was a recipient of several prestigious literary awards, including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri.
Nalan Xingde (born 1665) was a Chinese philosopher and writer during the Qing dynasty. Although not directly related to the Tamil origin of the name, his works on Neo-Confucianism and ethics gained him recognition in Chinese intellectual circles.
Nalan Sukkhadia (born 1932) is an Indian writer and poet from Rajasthan, known for his contributions to the Rajasthani language and literature. He has received numerous accolades, including the Sahitya Akademi Award and the Padma Shri.
People
Nalan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nalan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nalan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nalan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 121 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nalan 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 2,832,680 US residents.
Is Nalan a common name?
We classify Nalan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nalan most popular?
The single biggest year for Nalan was 2017, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nalan is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nalan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 229 people with the name Nalan, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,223 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 Nalan 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 Nalan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nalan on both sides of the split. Of the 230 people counted with this name, 101 were male (43.9%) and 129 were female (56.1%). 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 Nalan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nalan is White at 55.0%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (30.1%) and Black (7.4%). 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 Nalan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nalan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.0% (126 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 Nalan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nalan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nalan 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 Nalan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nalan 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 Nalan 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 common is the name Nalan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.