Ivan

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Иван in RU Russia, BG Bulgaria, KZ Kazakhstan and 3 more, Іван in UA Ukraine and Ivane in GE Georgia.

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 8 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◐

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

• Hungarian given name127K records spelled Ivan10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, United States

  Also written Iván, Ivàn, Ivãn, Įvån, Ívan

• Lithuanian given name108K records spelled Ivan7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Lithuania, Latvia, United States, Russia

  Languages: Lithuanian, Latvian

  Also written Iván, Îvañ, Ïvän, Īvāñ

• a separate given name79K records spelled Ivan8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, Russia, India

  Also written Iván, Ìvan, Ivań, Ivàn, Ívan

• Romanian given name68K records spelled Ivan7 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Moldova, Spain, Romania, United States

  Also written Iván, Ivãn, Ivàn, Ìvan, Îvân

• Finnish given name29K records spelled Ivan9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Estonia, United States, Russia

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Iván, Ivãn, Ívãn, Ìvan, Ïvän

• Urdu surname18K records spelled Ivan118 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Pakistan, United States, Laos, United Kingdom

  Languages: Urdu, English, Arabic

  Also written Awan, Iván, Iwan, อีวาน, Avani

• Swahili given name16K records spelled Ivan5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Africa, Kenya, Uganda

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho, Kinyarwanda

  Also written Iván

• Uzbek given name6.4K records spelled Ivan37 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Türkiye

  Languages: Uzbek, Kazakh, Kyrgyz

  Also written Иван, Iván, Іван, Йван, Ïvąņ

112 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●

Ivan 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 Irish, Russian/Ukrainian/Bulgarian form of John; recorded in Ireland.

  as a name·Irish first names

• from the personal name Ivan, eastern Slavic form of John. It may also be a shortened form of a Slovenian or Croatian patronymic derived from the personal name Ivan (i.e. Slovenian Ivanc, Ivancic, or Ivanjko; Croatian Ivancic, Ivanic, Ivancevic).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• Russian form of jJohn, sometimes used in the English-speaking world in the 20th century. In Northern Ireland it is sometimes found as a variant of }Ewan.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• The Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian form of John, sometimes used in western countries. It has been recorded in Ireland.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, A male given name from Russian of English speakers.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

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) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Ivan IIIb. 1440RUGrand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1462 to 1505
• Ivan V of Russiab. 1666RUTsar of Russia from 1682 to 1696 (lived 1666-1696)
• Ivan Goncharovb. 1812RURussian novelist and official (1812–1891)
• Ivan Konstantinovič Ajvazovskijb. 1817UARussian marine painter (1817–1900)
• Ivan Turgenevb. 1818RURussian writer (1818–1883)
• Ivan Kramskoib. 1837RURussian artist (1837-1887)
• Ivan Pavlovb. 1849RURussian physiologist (1849–1936)
• Ivan Buninb. 1870FRRussian writer and poet (1870–1953)
• Yanka Kupalab. 1882BYnot in their usual nameBelarusian writer (1882–1942)
• Ivan Lendlb. 1960USCzech and American tennis player (born 1960)

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 · 1,810 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Ivan?

We estimate roughly 1.1 million people bear Ivan (counting its spellings and scripts) across 14 countries in our records.

In which country does Ivan have the most bearers?

Ivan is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled иван.

Where is Ivan most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Ivan is densest in Croatia — about 1 in 32 people — even though Russia holds more of our records for it.

How common is Ivan compared with other names?

In Russia, Ivan is the 28th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Ivan a male or female name?

Ivan 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 Ivan mean?

Recorded meaning: Slavic form of John/Jean, Hebrew Yohanan, 'God is gracious'.