Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1984. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Yuan through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 212
- 175 boys · 37 girls
- Most popular year
- 2024
- 19 babies
- 2025
- 15
- #6,132 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +16%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 15 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,132 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 23.1% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 5,921 as a first name in 2020; 12,855 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.
Yuan’s family of names
In English usage, Yuan as a surname has a related form in Yüan.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 15
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Yuan
- Gen ShojiJapanese association football playerborn 1992
- Emperor Gaozu of TangFounding emperor of the Tang Dynasty (566-635) (r. 618–626)
- Xiahou YuanChinese military general (died 219)200–219
- Zhang YuanChinese filmmaker (1963- )
- Liu YuanEmperor of Han Zhao dynasty from 304 to 310271–310
- Gongsun YuanChinese warlord and Cao Wei vassal and King of Yan (died 238)250–238
- Yuan ChangAmerican virologistborn 1959
- Liu YuanGeneral of the People's Liberation Army, son of former President Liu Shaoqiborn 1951
- Yuan YangBritish-Chinese political, journalistborn 1990
Characters named Yuan: Zou Yuan (Water Margin character).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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