Quang
A Vietnamese given name meaning "respectable" or "bright."
Name Census estimates that about 708 living Americans carry the first name Quang. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Quang today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quang births was 1981 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quang. 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 Quang with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
708
~ 1 in 484,116 Americans
Peak year
1981
42 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2021 SSA rank
#13,598
Tracked since 1975
Census
Quang in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,578 people with the first name Quang, which placed it at #2,964 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
#2,964
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,578 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
98.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quang
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quang is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.4%. The next largest groups are White (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Quang 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 Quang at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander98.4% · 7,457
- White0.7% · 52
- Two or more races0.5% · 37
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 17
- Black or African American0.2% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Quang: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quang from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 337 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Quang 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 Quang during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Quangs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Quang, while Massachusetts, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Quang
The name Quang has its origins in the Vietnamese language and culture. It is a masculine given name that dates back to ancient times in the region now known as Vietnam.
Quang is derived from the Vietnamese word "quang", which means "bright" or "shining". The name is often associated with positivity, radiance, and light. It may have been given to children with the hope that they would grow up to be bright individuals who would bring joy and illumination to those around them.
One of the earliest known references to the name Quang can be found in the historical annals of Vietnam, dating back to the 10th century. During this time, Vietnam was known as Dai Viet, and the name Quang appeared in records of noble families and local rulers.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Quang. One of the earliest was Quang Trung (1753-1792), a Vietnamese military leader and emperor who played a pivotal role in the resistance against the Qing Chinese invasion in the late 18th century. He is celebrated as a national hero in Vietnam for his military victories and efforts to preserve Vietnamese independence.
Another prominent figure with the name Quang was Quang Duc (1897-1963), a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who famously self-immolated in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. His act of sacrifice in 1963 brought international attention to the conflict and is considered a defining moment in the Buddhist crisis that preceded the Vietnam War.
In the realm of literature, Quang Du (1958-present) is a renowned Vietnamese poet and author. His works, which often explore themes of identity, displacement, and the human condition, have earned him numerous accolades and recognition both within Vietnam and abroad.
Moving into the world of sports, Quang Ninh (1971-present) is a former Vietnamese professional footballer who played as a midfielder for various clubs in Vietnam and Singapore. He is considered one of the greatest players in Vietnamese football history and has received multiple honors, including being named Vietnamese Footballer of the Year on three occasions.
Lastly, Quang Truong (1980-present) is a Vietnamese-American actor and martial artist. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, often portraying roles that showcase his martial arts skills. Some of his notable works include "Dragon Eyes" (2012) and the Netflix series "Wu Assassins" (2019).
People
Quang + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quang as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quang: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quang?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 708 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quang 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 484,116 US residents.
Is Quang a common name?
We classify Quang as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 733 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quang most popular?
The single biggest year for Quang was 1981, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quang is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Quang in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,578 people with the name Quang, or 2.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,964 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 Quang 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 Quang?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quang leans strongly male. 7,345 people counted with this name were male (97.0%), compared with 226 female bearers (3.0%). 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 Quang?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quang is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.4%. The next largest groups are White (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.5%). 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 Quang most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Quang in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.4% (7,457 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 Quang in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quang a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Quang 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 Quang still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quang 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 Quang 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 Quang?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.