Name Awesome

Shan

UnisexBoys' nameGirls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Shan has been given to 3,088 babies in the U.S. since 1944. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1969, with 73 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 72% boys, 28% girls all-time.

Babies named Shan, 2024

1 in 418,000

Shan over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Shan over time

In 2024, Shan went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19442024

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.

Shan: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shan means

Shan has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Shan

A separate documented entry treats Shan as a form of Siân. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

One of the source’s documented entries for Shan records a meaning of mountain.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,224 boys were recorded with the name Shan between 1944 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 73 in 1969; its best national rank was #898 in 1969.

In the United States, 864 girls were recorded with the name Shan between 1944 and 2016. Its highest annual count was 45 in 1970; its best national rank was #1,929 in 1970.

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 Shan?

Shan had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 418,000
8 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 215,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
289,633 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shan 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 2024 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 289,633 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shan was born before 1983 — so the typical Shan is around 42 today.

Median birth year
1983
About 42 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
24.3% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
24.2%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
2,219
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 24.3% of all recorded uses (540).

Is Shan 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1969 (73)
Years since peak
56
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#898
1969

Spellings of Shan

Shan is not the most common spelling — Ryan is, with 19.3% against Shan's 0.04%.

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 Shan is used — boys

Across 1910–2025, Shan was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 182,198 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. 2Florida1 in —
  3. 3Georgia1 in —
  4. 4Illinois1 in —
  5. 5Louisiana1 in —
  6. 6North Carolina1 in —
  7. 7New Jersey1 in —
  8. 8New York1 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. Shan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Where Shan is used — girls

Across 1910–2025, Shan was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 554,872 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3Kentucky1 in —
  4. 4Texas1 in —
  5. 5Washington1 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. Shan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shan around the world

Where Shan 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
    1996–2020
    #4,608
    in 2020
  • Northern Ireland
    2022–2022
    #414
    in 2022
  • France
    1992–2022
    #6,059
    in 2022
  • Canada
    1991–2022
    #2,778
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1985–1999
    #539
    in 1999

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NISRA 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.

Notable people named Shan

People whose public names include Shan, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Shan in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Shan. Linked forms have their own page here.

Chán

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Shan by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#898
1969
Peak year
1969
73 that year
First recorded
1944
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
2,224
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,929
1970
Peak year
1970
45 that year
First recorded
1944
Last recorded
2016
All-time count
864
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Shan

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

ShahanShaiShaeShawShadShayShaanShayaShainShadeShayanShalomShahSharifShamusShantShakurShaulShadiShamirShakaShayeChanSharod

Names with a curve like Shan

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Shan, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

DemetriosTorrenceDarynDarbyBrookRonnellTorranceJebLamonteYancyAnthoneySedrick

Sibling names for Shan

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 Shan

Top names of 1969, Shan's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1969Boys' names starting with S