Nan
Nan was last recorded in 2022, when 6 babies were given it; 10,274 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2022 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,440 Americans named Nan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (43% of everyone recorded); the median is 72 years old and half are between 66 and 79.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nan is “a diminutive of the female given name Ann and Nancy.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nan?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,789, in 2022; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
255 babies in 1947, the peak
Nan peaked in 1947, when 255 girls were given it, #523 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 6 | #14,789 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 7 | #14,139 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 5 | #17,985 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 6 | #14,864 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 5 | #17,152 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,470 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 8 | #10,820 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 7 | #11,411 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 9 | #9,352 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,497 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (123)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 9 | #9,257 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 8 | #9,946 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 11 | #7,685 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,466 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 5 | #13,192 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 14 | #5,510 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 10 | #6,951 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 10 | #6,790 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 9 | #7,211 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 12 | #5,704 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 20 | #3,978 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 13 | #5,481 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,785 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 22 | #3,627 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,867 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 16 | #4,356 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 20 | #3,488 | 0.01 |
| 1975 | 14 | #4,509 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 28 | #2,661 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 23 | #2,986 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 22 | #3,025 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 35 | #2,283 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 24 | #2,908 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 37 | #2,090 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 38 | #1,967 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 49 | #1,635 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 50 | #1,598 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 68 | #1,334 | 0.04 |
| 1964 | 86 | #1,195 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 113 | #1,005 | 0.06 |
| 1962 | 124 | #955 | 0.06 |
| 1961 | 146 | #894 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 166 | #803 | 0.08 |
| 1959 | 181 | #756 | 0.09 |
| 1958 | 211 | #681 | 0.10 |
| 1957 | 209 | #688 | 0.10 |
| 1956 | 218 | #646 | 0.11 |
| 1955 | 253 | #574 | 0.13 |
| 1954 | 215 | #620 | 0.11 |
| 1953 | 229 | #583 | 0.12 |
| 1952 | 228 | #574 | 0.12 |
| 1951 | 233 | #555 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 204 | #591 | 0.12 |
| 1949 | 236 | #543 | 0.14 |
| 1948 | 225 | #552 | 0.13 |
| 1947 | 255 | #523 | 0.14 |
| 1946 | 223 | #525 | 0.14 |
| 1945 | 175 | #556 | 0.13 |
| 1944 | 190 | #527 | 0.14 |
| 1943 | 216 | #508 | 0.15 |
| 1942 | 217 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1941 | 173 | #533 | 0.14 |
| 1940 | 189 | #503 | 0.17 |
| 1939 | 197 | #477 | 0.18 |
| 1938 | 141 | #578 | 0.13 |
| 1937 | 154 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1936 | 145 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1935 | 151 | #524 | 0.14 |
| 1934 | 150 | #529 | 0.14 |
| 1933 | 138 | #544 | 0.14 |
| 1932 | 131 | #572 | 0.12 |
| 1931 | 130 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1930 | 130 | #609 | 0.12 |
| 1929 | 121 | #627 | 0.11 |
| 1928 | 134 | #610 | 0.12 |
| 1927 | 109 | #699 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 129 | #636 | 0.11 |
| 1925 | 115 | #686 | 0.09 |
| 1924 | 118 | #684 | 0.09 |
| 1923 | 125 | #668 | 0.10 |
| 1922 | 114 | #688 | 0.09 |
| 1921 | 109 | #708 | 0.09 |
| 1920 | 124 | #648 | 0.10 |
| 1919 | 114 | #654 | 0.10 |
| 1918 | 108 | #694 | 0.09 |
| 1917 | 102 | #682 | 0.09 |
| 1916 | 114 | #635 | 0.11 |
| 1915 | 93 | #688 | 0.09 |
| 1914 | 74 | #680 | 0.10 |
| 1913 | 63 | #658 | 0.10 |
| 1912 | 59 | #655 | 0.11 |
| 1911 | 45 | #648 | 0.11 |
| 1910 | 53 | #568 | 0.13 |
| 1909 | 46 | #572 | 0.13 |
| 1908 | 50 | #517 | 0.15 |
| 1907 | 42 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1906 | 44 | #523 | 0.15 |
| 1905 | 41 | #542 | 0.14 |
| 1904 | 56 | #433 | 0.20 |
| 1903 | 45 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1902 | 39 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1901 | 41 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1900 | 53 | #464 | 0.18 |
| 1899 | 45 | #436 | 0.19 |
| 1898 | 37 | #517 | 0.14 |
| 1897 | 33 | #519 | 0.14 |
| 1896 | 56 | #381 | 0.24 |
| 1895 | 59 | #370 | 0.25 |
| 1894 | 52 | #393 | 0.23 |
| 1893 | 32 | #484 | 0.15 |
| 1892 | 28 | #522 | 0.13 |
| 1891 | 24 | #535 | 0.13 |
| 1890 | 39 | #408 | 0.20 |
| 1889 | 52 | #348 | 0.29 |
| 1888 | 46 | #355 | 0.26 |
| 1887 | 39 | #347 | 0.27 |
| 1886 | 39 | #344 | 0.27 |
| 1885 | 31 | #370 | 0.23 |
| 1884 | 25 | #404 | 0.19 |
| 1883 | 28 | #341 | 0.25 |
| 1882 | 24 | #368 | 0.22 |
| 1881 | 22 | #357 | 0.24 |
| 1880 | 16 | #431 | 0.18 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nan has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 123 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nan, and how old are they?
4,440 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 43% of the 10,274 Americans ever recorded as Nan. The median Nan alive today is 72 years old; half are between 66 and 79.
The 2020 Census counted 9,307 people named Nan (8,105 women and girls, 1,202 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,309 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.8 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Nan rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 932 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,860 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 438 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 158 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 32 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 13 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Nan born?
The states with the most babies named Nan are New York, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 35% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 720 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Texas | 648 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 646 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| California | 388 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 373 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 332 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Michigan | 312 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 303 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 292 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Alabama | 236 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Nan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nan is most over-represented in Georgia: since 1910 it was given 1.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Nan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Nan
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Nan and names like it
- Compare Nan and DrucillaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1940sNan peaked in 1947.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nan since 1910.
- The top names of 1947The year the most babies were named Nan.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Nan alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with NMost given first.