Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1889. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Fan through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 17
- 0 boys · 17 girls
- Most popular year
- 1927
- 7 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
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- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 1942. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 7 in 1927. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,078 as a first name in 2020; 12,500 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.
Fan’s family of names
In Greek usage, Fan as a surname is a transliteration of Φαν.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 5
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Fan
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Fan, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Soon
Soon is a surname from Chinese. It is used in English and Tagalog.
10% boys · 90% girls
Iva
“of the yew tree”
>99% girls
Đan
Đan is a feminine given name from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
>99% girls
Fang
“pleasantly fragrant” · “from the sheep pen”
21% boys · 79% girls
Phạm
Phạm is a surname from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
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Hân
Hân is a feminine given name from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
>99% girls
Hạnh
Hạnh is a feminine given name from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
>99% girls
Cấn
Cấn is a surname from Chinese. It is used in Vietnamese.
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