Given name & surname
Tan
“a high achiever”
Tan is used as a given name and a surname. One Japanese interpretation is “a high achiever.”
Original Japanese丹
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “a high achiever.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Japanese.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1976. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Tan through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 597
- 586 boys · 11 girls
- Most popular year
- 1985
- 29 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 8 in 2019. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 29 in 1985. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 6,530 as a first name in 2020; 39,432 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.
Tan’s family of names
In English usage, Tan as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with Chen. In Greek usage, Tan as a surname is a transliteration of Ταν. In Indonesian usage, Tan as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with Chan.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Tan has relatives in 7 languages. Lines run from its Japanese roots to each of them.
Spellings & scripts 6
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Tan
- Tan Malakacommunist Indonesian politician (1897-1949)
- Tan Howe LiangSingaporean weightlifter (1933–2024)
- The Hong DjienIndonesian footballerborn 1916
- Tan See HanIndonesian footballerborn 1910
- Tan Miaoswimmerborn 1987
- Tan RuiwuCroatian table tennis playerborn 1983
- Tan DaojiJin Dynasty general400–436
- Tan Cheng BockSingaporean politicianborn 1940
- Hiong Liong TanIndonesian-Dutch chess master1938–2009
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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