Jan

given name · Polish · Latin script

Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

Jan is a given name, most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is the 2nd most common given name. It appears chiefly in Polish and Czech, written in the Latin script. Recorded meaning: from Johannes, Hebrew Yôḥānān 'Yahweh is gracious'.

rarermore common
  • CUCuba1 in 12◐
  • GTGuatemala1 in 16
  • CZCzechia1 in 18

carrying the name, one hue, darker where it is more common. Hover a country for its figure.

≈11M ●

across 12 countries

#3 ●

of 16M given names

14 ●

recorded for this name

Sources
659 ●

100M records

Official registry-verified

1 in 18 ◐

Czechia

Spellings & scripts●

JohnLatin · English●47M records
ΙωαννηςGreek · Greek●989K records
יונהHebrew · Hebrew●95K records
ЯнисCyrillic · Russian●26K records
요한Hangul · Korean●18K records
ᲯონიGeorgian · Georgian●6.8K records
জীবনBengali · Bangla●3.8K records
ዮሐንስEthiopic · Amharic●831 records
โยฮันเนสThai · Thai●161 records
ଜୀବନOdia · Odia●15 records
ՅանArmenian · Armenian●8 records
JoࣩhnArabic · English●1 records
ജവാൻMalayalam · Malayalam●0 records
ජීවනSinhala · Sinhala●0 records

13 other spellings are counted as the same name:

Locally spelled Juan in AR Argentina, ES Spain, MX Mexico and 6 more, John in US United States, GB United Kingdom, PH Philippines and 5 more, Sebastian in DE Germany, EC Ecuador and Joao in BR Brazil.

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●

from Johannes, Hebrew Yôḥānān 'Yahweh is gracious'

Sources 1

  • Deutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

Attested across 8 languages in the etymology graph.

Where in the world●

Sorted by bearers counted by national registers, records where none counts.

Where Jan is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
AR Argentina#212,961,3007.5M rec.—5.7KJuan239
MX Mexico#35,288,3114.2M rec.—4.7KJuan302
GB United Kingdom#14,533,2514M rec.—1.1KJohn396
BR Brazil#33,430,6084.4M rec.1 in 623.4MJoao248
PE Peru#43,194,6532.3M rec.—555KJuan176
US United States#23,118,62055M rec.1 in 1073.1MJohn659
VE Venezuela#82,400,453870K rec.—21KJuan160
GT Guatemala#32,227,734180K rec.—3.1KJuan142
PH Philippines#32,098,1301.4M rec.—listedJohn240
AU Australia#11,965,7301.7M rec.—570John410
CO Colombia#21,937,062665K rec.—1.2KJuan277
FR France#11,910,4004.1M rec.1 in 361.9MJean474

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table. How that works.

Languages●

  • Polish3.5M32%
  • Czech2.9M26%
  • English1.6M14%
  • Dutch599K5%
  • Western Frisian553K5%
Show as table
Languages in which the name is recorded
NameRecordsNote
Polish3,509,40932%
Czech2,890,07626%
English1,590,43014%
Dutch599,0795%
Western Frisian553,4095%

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◐

Jan is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • Hindi given name248K records spelled Jan33 spellings in the group

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

    Languages: Hindi, Urdu

    Also written Jān, Jân, Jāñ, Jâň, Jàņ

  • a separate given name210K records spelled Jan10 spellings in the group

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

    Also written Ján, Jān, J̆an, Jân, Jän

  • Finnish given name77K records spelled Jan5 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Finland, Sweden, United States, Estonia

    Languages: Finnish, Estonian

    Also written Jãñ, Jäń

  • Arabic given name46K records spelled Jan10 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates

    Also written Jān, Jãñ, Jäñ, Jàn, Jän

  • Swahili given name20K records spelled Jan3 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in South Africa, United States, Philippines, India

    Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

    Also written Jàn

130 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●

Jan 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 Dutch, Dutch given name corresponding to John; source of patronymic surnames like Jansen.

    as a nameTên Họ Người Việt Nam

  • In English, from Johan; see JOHN; first attested Simon Ianes 1297 MinAcctCo

    as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames

  • In German, North Sea / German short form of Johannes

    as a nameDeutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

  • ,9 As a boy’s name this represents a revival of Middle English jan, a byform of John, or an adoption of the common European form with this spelling. As a girl’s name it is a short form of names such as pJanet

    as a nameA concise dictionary of first names

  • Dutch, Danish, North German, English, Polish, etc.; Czech and Slovak (Jan): from the personal name Jan, a vernacular form of Latin Johannes (see John).

    as a nameDictionary 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●

01K2K3K4K195020003.2K · 1956

Show as table
Jan in SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present), United States, 1902–2025
Yearrecords
19025
19065
19096
19109
19118
19128
191311
191421
191522
191618
191722
191833
191924
192029
192125
192227
192321
192432
192531
192631
192749
192850
192946
193060
1931104
1932119
1933115
1934160
1935196
1936272
1937245
1938317
1939308
1940349
1941459
1942534
1943641
1944611
1945864
19461,149
19471,358
19481,262
19491,522
19501,725
19512,185
19522,481
19532,607
19542,993
19552,768
19563,201
19572,991
19582,631
19592,587
19602,447
19612,032
19621,778
19631,562
19641,259
1965937
1966842
1967746
1968655
1969569
1970498
1971412
1972377
1973295
1974324
1975262
1976254
1977231
1978245
1979197
1980186
1981163
1982163
1983143
1984145
1985131
1986117
1987101
1988109
1989102
1990126
1991101
199295
199395
1994105
1995107
1996101
199777
199881
1999107
2000192
2001214
2002175
2003191
2004235
2005215
2006279
2007189
2008206
2009160
2010135
2011116
2012107
2013112
201484
201593
201684
201763
201882
201954
202069
202162
202268
202369
202466
202547

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 119 years between 1902–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

12001400160018002000Jan van Eyck, b. 1390Jan Brueghel, b. 1568Comenius, b. 1592Jan Steen, b. 1626Ignacy Jan Paderewski, b. 1860Jan Christian Smuts, b. 1870Jan Tinbergen, b. 1903Jan Peter Balkenende, b. 1956Jan Koller, b. 1973Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, b. 1983
  • Jan van Eyckb. 1390BEFlemish painter (c.1390–1441)
  • Jan Brueghelb. 1568BEFlemish painter (1568–1625)
  • Comeniusb. 1592CZnot in their usual nameCzech teacher, educator, philosopher and writer (1592-1670)
  • Jan Steenb. 1626NLpainter from the Northern Netherlands (1626–1679)
  • Ignacy Jan Paderewskib. 1860UAPolish pianist, composer, supporter of Poland's independence movements, politician, Prime Minister of reborn Poland (1860–1941)
  • Jan Christian Smutsb. 1870ZASouth African statesman and military leader (1870–1950)
  • Jan Tinbergenb. 1903NLDutch economist (1903–1994)
  • Jan Peter Balkenendeb. 1956NLPrime Minister of the Netherlands from 2002 to 2010
  • Jan Kollerb. 1973CZCzech association football player
  • Klaas-Jan Huntelaarb. 1983NLDutch association football player (born 1983)

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●

Attested in 127 sources across 62 countries.

Official registers attesting Jan
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
PL Polanddane.gov.pl — PESEL given names (first + second name position, 2026-01-20)2026873K#1
CZ CzechiaMVČR — living population register 2017—588K#2
PL Polanddane.gov.pl — PESEL living persons (names)—470K#7
CZ Czechianaše jména — 2016 MVČR snapshot—294K#2
NL NetherlandsMeertens NVB — Nederlandse Voornamenbank (live per-name BRP counts, 1790-2017)—177K#7
SE SwedenSkatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population)—124K#19
NO NorwaySSB — Navnesøk (name-search service, living population)—103K#2
SE SwedenSCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023)202058K—
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex202056K#645
NO NorwaySSB PxWebApi — Persons/Last names by year (StatBank tables 10501/12891)202543K—
DK DenmarkDanmarks Statistik — Hvor mange hedder...? (living-population name counts)—35K#10
US United StatesCensus Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex202026K#645

Reference works 8

  • Dictionary of American Family Names
  • The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
  • Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
  • Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
  • Wikipedia given-name tokens
  • Wikipedia surname tokens
  • Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
  • jeantosti.com — Dictionnaire des noms de famille de France et d'ailleurs (Jean Tosti)

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,458 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Jan?
We estimate roughly 11 million people bear Jan (counting its spellings and scripts) across 12 countries in our records.
In which country does Jan have the most bearers?
Jan is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled juan.
How common is Jan compared with other names?
In Argentina, Jan is the 2nd most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.
Is Jan a male or female name?
Jan 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 Jan mean?
Recorded meaning: from Johannes, Hebrew Yôḥānān 'Yahweh is gracious'
Query this name via API
curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/jan

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use. Bulk access and licensing.

About this data

● measured from records◐ inferred from the name graph○ machine-generated

Data snapshot . Figures are rebuilt periodically and will change.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Jan” — the 2nd most common given name in Argentina. Data snapshot 2026-09-12.

See how Jan parses inside a full name →