Han

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Hans in DE Germany, US United States, NL Netherlands and 20 more and 한 in KR South Korea, FR France.

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 32 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◐

Han is also recorded as 8 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English surname1.2M records spelled Han78 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in South Korea, United States, Australia, Malaysia

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written HaeN, Hân, Hän, Hañ, Hàn

• Chinese surname206K records spelled Han7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, China, Malaysia, Taiwan

  Also written H'An, Hân, Hán, Hàn

• Vietnamese given name133K records spelled Han17 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Vietnam, United States, China, India

  Also written Hân, Hàn, Hận, Hán, Hãn

• Turkish surname107K records spelled Han12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Türkiye, United States, China, Afghanistan

  Languages: Turkish, Azerbaijani, Turkmen

  Also written H'An, Håń, Hãn, Hân, Hàn

• Malay surname59K records spelled Han21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Malaysia, Indonesia, United States, Singapore

  Languages: Malay, Indonesian

  Also written 'Han, Han', Hañ, Hãn, Hàñ

• Spanish surname44K records spelled Han32 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Spain, China

  Also written Hañ, Hân, Hån, Ha̶n, Hán

• a separate surname40K records spelled Han26 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, China, India, United Kingdom

  Also written Ḫān, Hân, H̲ān, Ḥān, Hạ̀n

• a separate surname33K records spelled Han41 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Vietnam, United States, China, Malaysia

  Also written Hạn, Hân, Hän, Hãñ, Hàn

94 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●

Han 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 German, Orthographic variation im Auslaut: ss vs. ß nach Konsonant; 70+200 Belege.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 2: Graphematik/Phonologie der Familiennamen II, Konsonantismus

• In German, variant stem to Johannes or umlauted forms; see Han-

  as a name·Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

• of uncertain origin. In some cases at least it is from a Breton word meaning ‘summer’ or a topographic name from a place named with Gaulish hafod ‘summer residence’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• variant of Hahn. IJ«l;lddA bearer of the surname Han from the Poitou region of France was recorded in Repentigny, Quebec, in 1685 with secondary surnames Janhan and Chausse.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• from a reduced form of the personal name Johann(es) (see John).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

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) — 53 years between 1969–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Han Feib. 279CNChinese Legalist, 280–233 BCE
• Han Ganb. 706CNChinese artist (706-783)
• Han Myeong-sookb. 1944KRSouth Korean politician (1944-)
• Han Duck-soob. 1949KRActing President of South Korea (2024; 2025), Prime Minister of South Korea (2006; 2007–2008; 2022–2025)
• Byung-Chul Hanb. 1959KRGerman philosopher of South Korean origin
• Han Kangb. 1970KRSouth Korean writer
• Han Jae-rimb. 1975KRSouth Korean film director and screenwriter
• Jenny Hanb. 1980USAmerican writer (born 1980)
• Megumi Hanb. 1989JPJapanese actress and voice actress
• Han Kwang-song.b. 1998KPKorean (DPRK) jugador fútbol

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 · 628 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Han?

We estimate roughly 812 thousand people bear Han (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Han have the most bearers?

We estimate about 774 thousand people bear Han in South Korea, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled 한.

How common is Han compared with other names?

In South Korea, Han is the 16th most common surname of 14,083 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Han mean?

Recorded meaning: (i) Chinese name from the ancient state of Han; (ii) Korean name