Jan
About Jan
A standard form of John in Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Czech, Polish, Slovene, German, and Catalan. Properly pronounced yahn (in most of these languages), most Americans will still equate it with the Brady Bunchesque girls' name Jan, which is now officially extinct.
About 70 baby boys were named Jan in the US last year, and we'll bet many of those are pronounced the American way, rhyming with can.
Pronounced YAHN; JAN.
As of October 2026, Jan ranked #2731 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #247 in 1944.
Editor: Pamela Redmond
Sources: US popularity data is from the Social Security Administration. Meanings and origins are from Nameberry's name references.
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #1,787 | 84 | 43.7 |
| 2015 | #1,685 | 93 | 48.5 |
| 2016 | #1,804 | 84 | 44.3 |
| 2017 | #2,157 | 63 | 34 |
| 2018 | #1,843 | 82 | 45.2 |
| 2019 | #2,471 | 54 | 30.1 |
| 2020 | #2,054 | 69 | 40 |
| 2021 | #2,261 | 62 | 35.4 |
| 2022 | #2,155 | 68 | 38.9 |
| 2023 | #2,116 | 69 | 40.3 |
| 2024 | #2,211 | 65 | 37.7 |
| 2025 | #2,731 | 47 | 27.5 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Jan.
Jan on lists
Famous Jans
- Jan
Harm Pol, Dutch,American veterinarian who stars in the reality show "The Incredible Dr. Pol"
- Jan Hus
Czech church reformer
- Jan van Eyck
Flemish painter
- Jan Brueghel the Elder
Flemish painter
- Jan de Bray
Dutch painter
- Jan III Sobieski
King of Poland
- Jan Magnussen
Danish racing driver
- Jan Mela
Polish explorer, teenage double amputee, youngest person to reach the North Pole
- Jan Lammers
Dutch racing driver
- Jan Charouz
Czech racing driver
- Jan Hammer
Czech jazz,pop musician
- Jan Masaryk
former foreign minister of Czechoslovakia
- Jan Tinbergen
Dutch economist
- Jan Lamb
Hong Kong DJ
Jan in pop culture
- Doctor Jan Szukalski
character from Night trains, by Barbara Wood