Sanjuan
A variant of the Spanish place name San Juan.
Name Census estimates that about 125 living Americans carry the first name Sanjuan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sanjuan today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sanjuan births was 1974 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sanjuan. 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.
People living today
125
~ 1 in 2,742,035 Americans
Peak year
1974
11 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2005 SSA rank
#13,010
Tracked since 1948
Census
Sanjuan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 376 people with the first name Sanjuan, which placed it at #25,264 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
#25,264
National first-name rank
People counted
376
376 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
80.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sanjuan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sanjuan is Hispanic at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Black (13.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.7%). 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 Sanjuan 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 Sanjuan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino80.3% · 302
- Black or African American13.6% · 51
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 10
- White1.6% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.1% · 4
- Two or more races0.8% · 3
Popularity
Sanjuan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sanjuan from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 50 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Sanjuan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sanjuan 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 Sanjuan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sanjuans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sanjuan
The given name Sanjuan has its origins in the Spanish language and culture, likely emerging during the medieval period of Spanish history. It is a compound name formed by combining the Spanish words "san" meaning "saint" and "juan" which is the Spanish equivalent of the name John.
The name Juan itself is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Graced by God" or "God is gracious." This name gained widespread popularity throughout the Christian world due to its association with John the Baptist and John the Apostle, two prominent figures in the New Testament.
One of the earliest recorded historical references to the name Sanjuan can be found in the 13th-century Spanish epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," which tells the story of the legendary Castilian knight El Cid. In this work, a character named Sanjuan is mentioned as one of El Cid's loyal followers.
Throughout the centuries, several notable individuals have borne the name Sanjuan. One such person was Sanjuan de la Cruz (1542-1591), a Spanish mystic, poet, and friar who is revered as a saint in the Catholic Church. His writings, such as "Spiritual Canticle" and "The Dark Night of the Soul," have had a profound influence on Christian spirituality.
Another historical figure with the name Sanjuan was Sanjuan Bautista de la Concepción (1561-1613), a Spanish mystic and Catholic reformer who played a significant role in reviving the Discalced Carmelite Order in Spain. He was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1675.
In the realm of art, Sanjuan de Ribera (1592-1652) was a prominent Spanish painter of the Baroque period, known for his realistic depictions of religious subjects and genre scenes. His works can be found in numerous museums and galleries around the world.
Sanjuan Nepomuceno Prieto (1806-1868) was a Mexican general and politician who served as the interim President of Mexico for a brief period in 1853. He played a significant role in the Reform War, which aimed to curtail the power of the Catholic Church and the military in Mexico.
Finally, Sanjuan Bosch (1891-1967) was a renowned Puerto Rican writer and journalist who made significant contributions to the development of Puerto Rican literature. His works, including the novel "La Llamarada" and the short story collection "Espejos Opticos," explored themes of identity, social justice, and the Puerto Rican experience.
People
Sanjuan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sanjuan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sanjuan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sanjuan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 125 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sanjuan 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 2,742,035 US residents.
Is Sanjuan a common name?
We classify Sanjuan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 139 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sanjuan most popular?
The single biggest year for Sanjuan was 1974, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sanjuan is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sanjuan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 376 people with the name Sanjuan, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,264 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 Sanjuan 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 Sanjuan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sanjuan on both sides of the split. Of the 375 people counted with this name, 279 were male (74.4%) and 96 were female (25.6%). 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 Sanjuan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sanjuan is Hispanic at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Black (13.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.7%). 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 Sanjuan most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sanjuan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.3% (302 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 Sanjuan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sanjuan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sanjuan 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 Sanjuan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sanjuan 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 Sanjuan 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 Americans are named Sanjuan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.