Given name & surname · also Late Latin
Fabian
“one who grows beans”
Fabian is used as a given name and a surname. One Latin interpretation is “one who grows beans.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Latin interpretation is “one who grows beans.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Late Latin.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1882. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Fabian through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 44,577
- 44,250 boys · 327 girls
- Most popular year
- 2007
- 1,403 babies
- 2025
- 655
- #468 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −16%
- Easing
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 655 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 468 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 15.5% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for boys was 1,396 in 2007. In 2025, California and Texas shared the largest reported state-level birth count for boys with this name (150 each). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 43,046 as a first name in 2020; 13,044 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Fabian’s family of names
In Polish usage, Fabian has a diminutive in Fabianek. Fabian has a feminine form in Fabienne. In Turkish usage, Fabian has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Fabio.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Fabian has relatives in 15 languages. Lines run from its Latin roots to each of them.
16 related names in 15 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 23
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 14
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Fabian
- Fabian Gottlieb von BellingshausenBaltic German officer in the Imperial Russian Navy, cartographer and explorer (1778–1852)
- Fabian SchärSwiss association football playerborn 1991
- Fabian DelphEnglish association football player (born 1989)
- Fabian CancellaraSwiss cyclistborn 1981
- Fabian JohnsonAmerican soccer playerborn 1987
- Fabian RiederSwiss association football playerborn 2002
- Fabian ErnstGerman footballerborn 1979
- Fabian FreiSwiss footballer (born 1989)
- Fabian HambüchenGerman artistic gymnast (born 1987)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
Similar names
If you love Fabian, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Adrian
“man from Hadria” · “a man from Hadria”
99% boys · 1% girls
Dorian
“of the ancient Greek tribe, the Dorians”
97% boys · 3% girls
Fabricio
“skillful, well-made”
>99% boys
Maximilian
“the greatest”
>99% boys
Corbin
“resembling a crow; as dark as a raven” · “resembling a raven”
99% boys · 1% girls
Christian
“anointed” · “a follower of Christ”
99% boys · 1% girls
Sebastian
“man from Sebasta” · “the revered one”
>99% boys
Jovian
Jovian is a masculine given name from Latin.
>99% boys