Saquan
Of Native American origin, meaning "wanderer" or "to go about".
Name Census estimates that about 750 living Americans carry the first name Saquan. It is a predominantly male name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Saquan today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Saquan births was 1995 (49 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Saquan. 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
750
~ 1 in 457,006 Americans
Peak year
1995
49 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,519
Tracked since 1977
Census
Saquan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 518 people with the first name Saquan, which placed it at #20,076 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
#20,076
National first-name rank
People counted
518
518 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Saquan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saquan is Black at 91.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (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 Saquan 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 Saquan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.9% · 476
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 23
- Two or more races2.7% · 14
- White0.6% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Saquan
Out of the 767 babies given the name Saquan since 1880, 99.1% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Saquan as a male name
- Ranked #12,064 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (48 births)
Saquan as a female name
- Ranked #11,519 in 1995
- 7 female births in 1995
- Peak: 1995 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saquan leans strongly male. 506 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 8 female bearers (1.6%).
Popularity
Saquan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Saquan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 361 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Saquan 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 Saquan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Saquans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, North Carolina, Maryland recorded the most babies named Saquan, while District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Saquan
The name Saquan has its origins in the Algonquian languages, spoken by various Native American tribes across North America. It likely emerged from the Eastern Woodlands cultural area, spanning regions like the Great Lakes, the Appalachian Mountains, and the Atlantic coastal areas. The name is believed to be derived from the Proto-Algonquian word "sakwa," which means "outlet" or "mouth of a river."
While the exact roots of the name's etymology are uncertain, some linguists have traced it back to the Munsee Delaware language, a branch of the Eastern Algonquian language family. In this context, "Saquan" could have been used as a place name, referring to a location near the confluence of two rivers or the mouth of a significant waterway.
Historical records of the name Saquan are scarce, as many Native American names were not documented or preserved with the same rigor as European ones. However, some early accounts mention individuals with similar names, such as Saquon, Saquoyan, or Saquayoughcush, which may have been variations or related forms of the same name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with a name resembling Saquan was Saquoyan, a Lenape (Delaware) leader who lived in the late 17th century. He was known for his involvement in negotiations with William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, and his efforts to maintain peaceful relations between the Lenape and the European settlers.
Another notable figure was Saquayoughcush, a Mohawk leader from the late 18th century, who was instrumental in negotiating treaties and land deals with the British colonial authorities in New York. He was also known for his role in the Mohawk Valley campaigns during the American Revolutionary War.
In more recent times, Saquon Barkley, an American football player born in 1997, has brought renewed attention to the name. He played college football at Penn State and was drafted by the New York Giants in the 2018 NFL Draft, where he quickly established himself as one of the league's top running backs.
Additionally, there was a Chief Saquon, a prominent leader of the Munsee Delaware tribe in the mid-19th century, who played a pivotal role in the tribe's relocation and settlement in Kansas.
While not an exhaustive list, these individuals highlight the historical significance and enduring presence of the name Saquan, which has survived as a testament to the rich cultural heritage of the Algonquian peoples and their lasting influence on the linguistic landscape of North America.
People
Saquan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Saquan 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
Saquan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Saquan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 750 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Saquan 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 457,006 US residents.
Is Saquan a common name?
We classify Saquan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 767 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Saquan most popular?
The single biggest year for Saquan was 1995, when 49 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Saquan is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Saquan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 518 people with the name Saquan, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,076 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 Saquan 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 Saquan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Saquan leans strongly male. 506 people counted with this name were male (98.4%), compared with 8 female bearers (1.6%). 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 Saquan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Saquan is Black at 91.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.4%) and Two or More Races (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 Saquan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Saquan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.9% (476 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 Saquan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Saquan a male name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Saquan 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 Saquan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Saquan 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 Saquan 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 share the name Saquan?
Want to know how many Americans are named Saquan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.