Chan

#9,881 in 2025UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Moon

Chan has been given to 1,247 babies in the U.S. since 1919. In 2025 it ranked #9,881 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1986, with 24 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 83% boys, 17% girls all-time.

Babies named Chan, 2025

1 in 474,000

Chan over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Chan over time

In 2025, Chan went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19192025

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Chan: meaning, origin, and history

Moon

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Chan means

Chan means “moon”.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,035 boys were recorded with the name Chan between 1919 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 24 in 1986; its best national rank was #1,778 in 1965.

Over 10 years its rank rose, from #10,907 in 2015 to #9,881 in 2025.

In the United States, 212 girls were recorded with the name Chan between 1956 and 2003. Its highest annual count was 18 in 1983; its best national rank was #3,969 in 1958.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Chan?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 244,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#9,881
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Chan sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Chan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Chans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Chan was born before 1982 — so the typical Chan is around 43 today.

Median birth year
1982
About 43 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
19.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
19.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
924
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 19.2% of all recorded uses (199).

Is Chan rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+1,300
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,026
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.17×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
29.2%
Peak was 1986 (24)
Years since peak
39
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,778
1965

Spellings of Chan

Chan is not the most common spelling — Ryan is, with 18.6% against Chan's 0.02%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Chan is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Chan was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 332,213 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Kansas1 in —
  3. 3Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Chan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Chan is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Chan was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 381,257 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Chan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Chan around the world

Where Chan ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2013
    #4,685
    in 2013
  • France
    1977–2016
    #4,347
    in 2016
  • Canada
    2007–2014
    #2,672
    in 2014
  • South Australia
    1978–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Chan by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#9,881
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#1,778
1965
Peak year
1986
24 that year
First recorded
1919
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,035
Count in 2025
7

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,969
1958
Peak year
1983
18 that year
First recorded
1956
Last recorded
2003
All-time count
212
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Chan

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Sibling names for Chan

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Chan