Fabian

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Fabiano in BR Brazil, IT Italy.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 6 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Fabian is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Hungarian surname196K records spelled Fabian8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Switzerland, Romania, United States

  Also written Fábián, Fàbiàn, Fàbián, Fabián, Fábian

• Polish given name183K records spelled Fabian14 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, Czechia, United States, Slovakia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Slovak

  Also written Fabián, Fábián, Fabian', Fãbīåň, Fabían

• a separate given name21K records spelled Fabian7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, Switzerland

  Also written Fabián, Fábián, Fabían, Fãbiăn, Fabiàn

• Norwegian Bokmål given name11K records spelled Fabian19 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, United States

  Languages: Norwegian Bokmål, Danish, Swedish

  Also written Fábián, Fabiån, Fabián, Fabianus, Fäbïâň

• Catalan given name10K records spelled Fabian2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Spain, Argentina

  Also written Fabián

• Indonesian given name9.6K records spelled Fabian4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Peru, Ecuador

  Also written Fabián, 'Fabian, Fábián

• French given name9.1K records spelled Fabian124 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Belgium, United States, Laos

  Languages: French, Lao, Portuguese

  Also written Fabien, Fabienne, Fabián, Fabiënne, Fabiano

77 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Fabian is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Lat Fabianus ‘of Fabius’, probably from faba ‘a bean’; first attested Fabianus de Cam 1184 P (Ha).

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• From the Late Latin name Fabidnus, a derivative of the old Roman family name Fabius (see Fabia). It was borne by an early pope (236-250), who was martyred under the Emperor Decius. The name was introduced into Britain by the Normans and occurs occasionally in the 16th and 17th centuries, but it has never been much used in the Englishspeaking world.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In German, patronymische Familiennamen zu Rufname Fabian.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 6: Familiennamen aus Rufnamen

• In German, männl. Vom. lateinischen Ursprungs, der auf einen mit der Endung »-änus« zu dem römischen Geschlechtemamen

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Swedish, Fabian är ett latinskt namn, en förkortad form av Fabianus, som i sin tur är en bildning till släktnamnet Fabius. Detta kan vara bildat till faba ’böna’ eller beteckna härkomst, ’från Fabiæ’. Fabian och Sebastian var namn på två romerska martyrer (200-talet), som i den kyrkliga traditionen har förts ihop som tvillinghelgon. I både den rikssvenska och finlandssvenska almanackan 20 januari.

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 123 years between 1882–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausenb. 1778EEBaltic German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer (1778–1852)
• Pär Lagerkvistb. 1891SEnot in their usual nameSwedish writer (1891–1974)
• Fabian Wagnerb. 1978DEGerman cinematographer
• Fabian Cancellarab. 1981CHSwiss cyclist
• Fabián Orellanab. 1986CLChilean footballer
• Fabian Hambüchenb. 1987DEGerman artistic gymnast (born 1987)
• Ángel Di Maríab. 1988ARnot in their usual nameArgentine footballer (born 1988)
• Fabian Schärb. 1991CHSwiss association football player
• Jeison Murillob. 1992COnot in their usual nameColombian association football player
• Fabián Ruizb. 1996ESSpanish footballer

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,321 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Fabian?

We estimate roughly 273 thousand people bear Fabian (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.

In which country does Fabian have the most bearers?

Fabian is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled fabian.

How common is Fabian compared with other names?

In Argentina, Fabian is the 55th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Fabian a male or female name?

Fabian is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Fabian mean?

Recorded meaning: from the Latin personal name Fabianus, a derivative of the Roman family name Fabius, perhaps based on Latin fava ‘bean’