Yordan
Slavic variant of George, derived from Byzantine Greek for "earth-worker" or "farmer".
Name Census estimates that about 220 living Americans carry the first name Yordan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Yordan today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Yordan births was 2020 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Yordan. 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
220
~ 1 in 1,557,974 Americans
Peak year
2020
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,261
Tracked since 1993
Popularity
Yordan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Yordan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 79 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Yordan 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 Yordan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Yordans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Yordan
The name Yordan is a masculine given name originating from the Slavic languages, specifically Bulgarian and Macedonian. It is derived from the Greek name Iordanes, which in turn comes from the Hebrew name Yarden, meaning "descender" or "the one who descends," referring to the Jordan River.
The earliest known usage of the name Yordan can be traced back to the 9th century in the Slavic regions of the Balkans. It was a popular name among the medieval Bulgarian nobility and was frequently found in historical records and chronicles from that period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Yordan is in the "Manasses Chronicle," a 12th-century Byzantine historical work, which mentions a Bulgarian ruler named Yordan Asen I (c. 1189-1237). He was a prominent figure in the Second Bulgarian Empire and is credited with liberating Bulgaria from Byzantine rule.
Another notable figure bearing the name Yordan was Yordan Radichkov (1929-2004), a renowned Bulgarian writer and playwright. He was widely acclaimed for his short stories and novels, which often explored the complexities of rural life in Bulgaria.
In the realm of religion, the name Yordan has been associated with several prominent figures. Saint Yordan Trunski (c. 1290-1360) was a Bulgarian Orthodox monk and spiritual leader who founded the Trun Monastery in present-day North Macedonia.
The name Yordan also appears in other cultural contexts. In the 16th century, the Croatian writer and philosopher Yordan Brun (c. 1512-1592) was known for his contributions to Renaissance humanism and his advocacy for the use of the Croatian language in literature and education.
In more recent times, the name Yordan has been carried by several notable athletes and public figures, including Yordan Ivanov (1929-2006), a Bulgarian footballer who played for the national team and several clubs in Europe, and Yordan Radichkov (1960-2004), a Bulgarian actor and director known for his work in both film and theater.
While the name Yordan is primarily associated with the Slavic cultures of Bulgaria and Macedonia, it has also gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly among communities with Eastern European roots or connections.
People
Yordan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Yordan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Y
Other first names starting with Y with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Yordan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Yordan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 220 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Yordan 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 1,557,974 US residents.
Is Yordan a common name?
We classify Yordan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 222 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Yordan most popular?
The single biggest year for Yordan was 2020, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Yordan is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Yordan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Yordan 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.
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.