Kuan: meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning & origin

Where it comes from

Kuan comes from Mandarin, and ultimately from Hokkien.

How it developed

From Spanish Juan.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1981. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Kuan through the years

Babies since 1880: 24; 24 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year: 2005; 7 babies
2025: 0; Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20: —; Too few births to compare

Kuan in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1981–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 2005. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 553 as a first name in 2020; 1,374 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.

Kuan’s family of names

Kuan has a conventional equivalent in the French form Jean. In English usage, Kuan as a surname has a related form in Quan. In English usage, Kuan as a surname has a related form in Kwan.

Walk Kuan’s family in the name graph

Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 7

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Spellings & scripts 1

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Cuanlikely spelling

Across languages 3

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

People named Kuan

Yang KuanChinese historian (1914–2005)

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Kuan, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Chinese · Modern

Sibling ideas

Names that share Kuan’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Kuan

A sister for Kuan

Your shortlist

Kuan