Serkan
A masculine Turkish name meaning "brave warrior" or "robust soldier".
Name Census estimates that about 13 living Americans carry the first name Serkan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Serkan today is around 21 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Serkan births was 2006 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Serkan. 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 Serkan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Serkan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
13
~ 1 in 26,365,718 Americans
Peak year
2006
8 babies that year
Average age
21
years old
2006 SSA rank
#9,422
Tracked since 2002
Census
Serkan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 417 people with the first name Serkan, which placed it at #23,447 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
#23,447
National first-name rank
People counted
417
417 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Serkan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Serkan is White at 96.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.9%) and Hispanic (0.7%). 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 Serkan 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 Serkan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.9% · 404
- Two or more races1.9% · 8
- Hispanic or Latino0.7% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 2
Popularity
Serkan: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Serkan 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 Serkan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 13 | 0 | 13 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Serkan
The name Serkan is of Turkish origin and is derived from the Persian name Sarkhan, meaning "falcon" or "hawk". It is a relatively modern name that gained popularity in Turkey in the 20th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Serkan dates back to the late 19th century, when it began to appear in official records and historical documents in the Ottoman Empire. During this time, the Ottoman Empire was undergoing a period of modernization and westernization, and new names were becoming more common.
One of the earliest notable figures to bear the name Serkan was Serkan Yıldırım, a Turkish author and journalist who lived from 1878 to 1947. He was known for his contributions to Turkish literature and his advocacy for women's rights.
Another historical figure with the name Serkan was Serkan Özbey, a Turkish military officer who fought in the Turkish War of Independence in the early 1920s. He was awarded the Gallipoli Star for his bravery and service during the Gallipoli Campaign.
In the world of sports, Serkan Balcı was a Turkish football player who played as a midfielder for various clubs in Turkey between 1990 and 2008. He represented Turkey's national team and is considered one of the country's most talented midfielders.
Serkan Yürekli was a Turkish actor and director who lived from 1945 to 2019. He was known for his roles in several popular Turkish television series and films, and was also a prolific stage actor.
Serkan Reçber was a Turkish football goalkeeper who played for several clubs, including Fenerbahçe and Barcelona, between 1987 and 2012. He was a member of the Turkish national team and is considered one of the best goalkeepers in Turkish football history.
While the name Serkan has its roots in Persian and Turkish culture, it has gained recognition and popularity beyond these regions, particularly in the latter half of the 20th century. However, its widespread use and historical significance remain closely tied to its Turkish heritage.
People
Serkan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Serkan 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
Serkan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Serkan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Serkan 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 26,365,718 US residents.
Is Serkan a common name?
We classify Serkan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 33.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Serkan most popular?
The single biggest year for Serkan was 2006, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Serkan is about 21 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Serkan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 417 people with the name Serkan, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,447 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 Serkan 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 Serkan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Serkan appears almost entirely male. Of the 425 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Serkan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Serkan is White at 96.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.9%) and Hispanic (0.7%). 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 Serkan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Serkan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.9% (404 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 Serkan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Serkan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Serkan 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 Serkan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Serkan 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 Serkan 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 are called Serkan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.