Given name & surname
Onan
“a wealthy man”
Onan is used as a given name and a surname. One Turkish interpretation is “a wealthy man.”
Original Hebrewאונן
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Turkish interpretation is “a wealthy man.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Turkish.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1921. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Onan appears in Genesis 38:4, Genesis 38:10.
- Genesis 38:4
- Genesis 38:10
From biblical name research
Onan through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 43
- 43 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2024
- 10 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 10 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 288 as a first name in 2020; 1,118 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.
Onan’s family of names
Onan has a related form in Onann. In Italian usage, Onan has a conventional equivalent in the Spanish form Onán. In Greek usage, Onan as a surname is a transliteration of Ονάν.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 3
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
Similar names
If you love Onan, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Orhan
“administrator of a city”
>99% boys
Ozer
“assistant, helper”
>99% boys
Arslan
“lion”
>99% boys
Okan
“resembling a horse”
>99% boys
Onur
“one who shows promise”
>99% boys
Azat
“free”
>99% boys
Umut
“filled with hope”
>99% boys
Aslan
“resembling a lion”
97% boys · 3% girls