Zan
Zan was given to 8 boys in 2025, #9,692 among boys’ names; 773 Americans have been recorded with it since 1916 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Zan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Zan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Zan is “a diminutive of the female given names Susan, Susanne, Suzanne, and Susanna.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Zan?
#9,692 among boys’ names, 2025
Zan rose from #14,015 in 2015 to #9,692 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 2.6 to 4.7 per million.
20 babies in 1955, the peak
Zan peaked in 1955, when 20 babies were given it (9 boys, #2,962 among boys’ names). The 8 births of 2025 are 40% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 8 | #9,692 | |
| 2024 | under 5 | 11 | #7,749 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 5 | #14,164 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 7 | #10,828 | |
| 2021 | under 5 | 9 | #8,809 | |
| 2019 | under 5 | 5 | #14,090 | |
| 2018 | under 5 | 5 | #14,070 | |
| 2017 | under 5 | 6 | #12,221 | |
| 2015 | under 5 | 5 | #14,015 | |
| 2013 | under 5 | 9 | #8,762 |
Every recorded year (77)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | under 5 | 7 | #10,746 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 9 | #8,747 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 9 | #8,780 | |
| 2009 | under 5 | 15 | #6,085 | |
| 2008 | under 5 | 12 | #7,176 | |
| 2007 | under 5 | 14 | #6,255 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 20 | #4,669 | |
| 2005 | under 5 | 7 | #10,127 | |
| 2004 | under 5 | 16 | #5,238 | |
| 2003 | under 5 | 19 | #4,416 | |
| 2002 | under 5 | 20 | #4,180 | |
| 2001 | under 5 | 11 | #6,432 | |
| 2000 | under 5 | 14 | #5,288 | |
| 1999 | under 5 | 8 | #7,864 | |
| 1998 | under 5 | 11 | #5,831 | |
| 1997 | under 5 | 10 | #6,089 | |
| 1996 | under 5 | 9 | #6,485 | |
| 1995 | under 5 | 9 | #6,396 | |
| 1994 | under 5 | 9 | #6,356 | |
| 1993 | under 5 | 10 | #5,762 | |
| 1992 | under 5 | 14 | #4,319 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 8 | #6,510 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 5 | #9,475 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 13 | #4,263 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 8 | #5,743 | |
| 1987 | under 5 | 9 | #4,957 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 5 | #7,813 | |
| 1985 | under 5 | 11 | #4,044 | |
| 1981 | under 5 | 6 | #6,257 | |
| 1979 | under 5 | 5 | #7,065 | |
| 1978 | under 5 | 5 | #6,755 | |
| 1977 | under 5 | 5 | #6,852 | |
| 1973 | under 5 | 5 | #5,871 | |
| 1971 | under 5 | 6 | #4,901 | |
| 1970 | under 5 | 7 | #4,225 | |
| 1969 | 8 | #5,970 | 7 | #3,930 |
| 1968 | 6 | #7,008 | 11 | #2,732 |
| 1967 | 7 | #6,037 | 8 | #3,228 |
| 1966 | 5 | #7,616 | 6 | #3,945 |
| 1965 | 7 | #5,814 | 9 | #2,979 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,803 | 10 | #2,850 |
| 1962 | under 5 | 11 | #2,670 | |
| 1961 | under 5 | 8 | #3,351 | |
| 1960 | 6 | #6,382 | 10 | #2,868 |
| 1959 | under 5 | 11 | #2,659 | |
| 1958 | 11 | #3,922 | 8 | #3,272 |
| 1957 | 5 | #7,005 | 10 | #2,820 |
| 1956 | 10 | #4,158 | 8 | #3,212 |
| 1955 | 11 | #3,776 | 9 | #2,962 |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,650 | 10 | #2,740 |
| 1953 | under 5 | 6 | #3,796 | |
| 1951 | 5 | #6,207 | 7 | #3,361 |
| 1950 | under 5 | 10 | #2,578 | |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,231 | 6 | #3,686 |
| 1947 | 7 | #4,758 | 5 | #4,261 |
| 1946 | under 5 | 9 | #2,687 | |
| 1945 | under 5 | 7 | #2,993 | |
| 1944 | under 5 | 6 | #3,426 | |
| 1942 | 5 | #5,370 | under 5 | |
| 1939 | under 5 | 6 | #3,478 | |
| 1937 | under 5 | 7 | #3,173 | |
| 1935 | under 5 | 6 | #3,640 | |
| 1934 | under 5 | 5 | #4,199 | |
| 1933 | under 5 | 5 | #4,151 | |
| 1928 | under 5 | 6 | #4,143 | |
| 1926 | under 5 | 5 | #4,833 | |
| 1916 | under 5 | 6 | #3,893 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Zan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 773 Americans recorded as Zan, 15% are girls and 85% boys. In 2025 it went to 8 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Zan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Zan, and how old are they?
An estimated 637 Americans named Zan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 21 and 62. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,061 people named Zan (323 women and girls, 738 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 630 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Zan rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 27,265 babies since 1880, Zan is the fourth most given (2.8% of them). In 2025 it was given to 8 of their 2,201 babies (<1%), the seventh most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
More about Zan and names like it
- Compare Zan and ZaynBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sZan peaked in 1955.
- The top names of 1955The year the most babies were named Zan.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Zan alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with ZMost given first.