Stan
A diminutive of the masculine given name Stanley, from Old English meaning "stony meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 6,080 living Americans carry the first name Stan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Stan today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stan births was 1959 (419 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stan. 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 Stan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
6.1K
~ 1 in 56,374 Americans
Peak year
1959
419 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,851
Tracked since 1914
Census
Stan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,393 people with the first name Stan, which placed it at #1,868 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
#1,868
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,393 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stan is White at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Stan 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 Stan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.7% · 12,571
- Black or African American7.4% · 1,145
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 753
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 425
- Two or more races2.3% · 351
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 148
Popularity
Stan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,368 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stan 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 Stan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Stan, while Maryland, Montana, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 145 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stan
The name Stan is a diminutive form of the name Stanislaus, which originates from the Slavic languages. It is derived from the Old Church Slavonic elements "sta" meaning "to stand" and "slava" meaning "glory." This suggests that the name Stan initially meant "one who stands in glory" or "one who attains glory through steadfastness."
The earliest recorded use of the name Stanislaus can be traced back to the 11th century, when it was borne by St. Stanislaus of Szczepanów, a Polish Catholic bishop. He was martyred in 1079 and later canonized as the patron saint of Poland. This association with a revered saint contributed to the popularity of the name in the Slavic regions.
In the Middle Ages, the name Stan was a common diminutive used across various Slavic cultures, including Poland, Czechia, and Slovakia. It was also adopted in other parts of Europe, particularly in England, where it was sometimes spelled as "Stane."
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Stan was Stan Better, an English landowner and bailiff who lived in the 13th century. Another early figure was Stan Thornhill, a 14th-century English military commander who fought in the Hundred Years' War.
In the 16th century, Stan Rej was a renowned Polish Renaissance poet and writer, best known for his satirical works criticizing the nobility and clergy. His contemporaries included Stan Stadnicki, a Polish magnate and military leader.
During the 17th century, Stan Potocki was a Polish nobleman and military commander who played a significant role in the Polish-Ottoman Wars. He was renowned for his victories against the Ottoman Empire.
In the 20th century, Stan Laurel (1890-1965) was a British comic actor and writer, best known for his iconic partnership with Oliver Hardy in the Laurel and Hardy comedy duo. Another notable figure was Stan Musial (1920-2013), an American baseball player who spent his entire career with the St. Louis Cardinals, earning induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals who have borne the name Stan throughout history, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Stan
People
Stan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stan 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
Stan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,080 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stan 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 56,374 US residents.
Is Stan a common name?
We classify Stan as "Rare". It ranks above 96.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,473 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stan most popular?
The single biggest year for Stan was 1959, when 419 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stan is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,393 people with the name Stan, or 5.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,868 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 Stan 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 Stan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stan appears almost entirely male. Of the 15,386 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Stan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stan is White at 81.7%. The next largest groups are Black (7.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.9%). 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 Stan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.7% (12,571 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 Stan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Stan 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 Stan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stan 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 Stan 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 have Stan as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.