How popular is the baby name Jan in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Jan.

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Popularity of the baby name Jan


Posts that mention the name Jan

Popular baby names in Warsaw (Poland), 2023

Flag of Poland
Flag of Poland

Last year, the capital of Poland welcomed more than 29,200 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Zofia and Jan, according to official website of the city of Warsaw.

Here are Warsaw’s top 4 girl names and top 4 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Zofia, 509 baby girls
  2. Julia, 432
  3. Laura, 406
  4. Alicja, 403

Boy names

  1. Jan, 678 baby boys
  2. Aleksander, 555
  3. Antoni, 509
  4. Stanislaw, 487

Interestingly, Nikodem — the top boy name in Poland last year — wasn’t among the top boy names in the capital city.

Back in 2015, Warsaw’s top names were also Zofia and Jan.

Speaking of previous sets of rankings, here are two more that I came across recently…

2018

In 2018, Warsaw welcomed 36,909 babies. Here are Warsaw’s top baby names of 2018:

Girl names (2018)Boy names (2018)
1. Zofia, 718 baby girls
2. Julia, 671
3. Zuzanna, 667
4. Maria, 650
5. Alicja, 649
6. Hanna, 618
7. Maja, 552
8. Helena, 468
9. Aleksandra, 438
10. Natalia, 426		1. Jan, 1,030 baby boys
2. Aleksander, 777
3. Antoni, 708
4. Jakub, 697
5. Stanislaw, 659
6. Franciszek, 641
7. Adam, 580
8. Szymon, 558
9. Mikolaj, 507
10. Ignacy, 468

2017

In 2017, Warsaw welcomed 36,978 babies. Here are Warsaw’s top baby names of 2017:

Girl names (2017)Boy names (2017)
1. Julia, 835 baby girls
2. Zofia, 820
3. Zuzanna, 657
4. Hanna, 648
5. Alicja, 644
6. Maja, 586
7. Maria, 582
8. Natalia, 496
9. Aleksandra, 476
10. Helena, 464		1. Jan, 1,121 baby boys
2. Antoni, 785
3. Jakub, 756
4. Franciszek, 674
5. Aleksander, 658
6. Stanislaw, 641
7. Mikolaj, 540
8. Adam, 526
9. Szymon, 506
10. Wojciech, 487

(Because L-with-a-stroke doesn’t render properly on my site, you’ll have to imagine one exists in the boy names Mikolaj and Stanislaw above.)

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Poland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Poland, 2023

Flag of Poland
Flag of Poland

Last year, the European country of Poland welcomed approximately 272,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among all these babies? Zofia and Nikodem.

Here are Poland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Zofia, 4,968 baby girls
  2. Zuzanna, 4,800
  3. Laura, 4,602
  4. Hanna, 4,565
  5. Maja, 4,461
  6. Julia, 4,254
  7. Oliwia, 3,846
  8. Pola, 3,692
  9. Alicja, 3,593
  10. Maria, 3,137
  11. Lena, 2,966
  12. Antonina, 2,912
  13. Emilia, 2,785
  14. Amelia, 2,759
  15. Klara, 2,660
  16. Michalina, 2,644
  17. Iga, 2,563
  18. Liliana, 2,561
  19. Wiktoria, 2,531
  20. Helena, 2,511
  21. Marcelina, 2,351
  22. Gabriela, 1,883
  23. Aleksandra, 1,878
  24. Nela, 1,768
  25. Kornelia, 1,761
  26. Lucja, 1,732
  27. Blanka, 1,636
  28. Anna, 1,581
  29. Nadia, 1,565
  30. Natalia, 1,441
  31. Lilianna, 1,422
  32. Jagoda, 1,410
  33. Mia, 1,232
  34. Milena, 1,148
  35. Róza, 1,132
  36. Kaja, 1,127
  37. Rozalia, 1,103
  38. Anastazja, 1,063
  39. Nina, 1,001
  40. Aniela, 984
  41. Weronika, 959
  42. Sara, 937
  43. Nikola, 917
  44. Barbara, 892
  45. Aurelia, 880
  46. Matylda, 845
  47. Liwia, 779
  48. Karolina, 752
  49. Martyna, 712
  50. Agata, 656

Boy names

  1. Nikodem, 6,532 baby boys
  2. Antoni, 5,663
  3. Jan, 5,638
  4. Aleksander, 5,625
  5. Franciszek, 4,965
  6. Leon, 4,916
  7. Jakub, 4,474
  8. Ignacy, 4,166
  9. Mikolaj, 4,081
  10. Stanislaw, 3,874
  11. Filip, 3,506
  12. Szymon, 3,269
  13. Wojciech, 3,078
  14. Adam, 2,889
  15. Tymon, 2,782
  16. Marcel, 2,759
  17. Kacper, 2,684
  18. Maksymilian, 2,655
  19. Oliwier, 2,578
  20. Wiktor, 2,347
  21. Michal, 2,183
  22. Igor, 1,899
  23. Julian, 1,855 (tie)
  24. Milosz, 1,855 (tie)
  25. Tymoteusz, 1,724 (tie)
  26. Gabriel, 1,724 (tie)
  27. Oskar, 1,683
  28. Piotr, 1,630
  29. Dawid, 1,276
  30. Bruno, 1,186
  31. Hubert, 1,159
  32. Krzysztof, 1,069
  33. Natan, 1,065
  34. Bartosz, 1,053
  35. Dominik, 1,022
  36. Mateusz, 900
  37. Cezary, 886
  38. Henryk, 880
  39. Alan, 869
  40. Karol, 866
  41. Tadeusz, 861
  42. Fabian, 837
  43. Tomasz, 830
  44. Maciej, 783
  45. Teodor, 761
  46. Ksawery, 752
  47. Milan, 733
  48. Artur, 722
  49. Leo, 669
  50. Pawel, 640

(Because L-with-a-stroke and Z-with-an-overdot don’t render properly on my site, you’ll have to imagine they exist in several of the above: the girl names Lucja and Róza, and the boy names Mikolaj, Stanislaw, Michal, Milosz, and Pawel.)

Poland’s data goes all the way down to names with just two instances of usage, so here’s a sampling of the rare baby names at the opposite end of the spectrum:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Aryna, Burla, Christine, Dziyana, Esti, Flavia, Goja, Hafsa, Iwanna, Jutrzenka, Kleopatra, Latika, Miszel, Nasturcja, Oryslava, Polianna, Raya, Svitlana, Tinatin, Ursula, Vienna, Wiera, Yevahelina, ZoryanaArseniusz, Bozydar, Czarek, Dachi, Ege, Ferdinand, Gabrielius, Hleb, Ioannis, Joszko, Kerem, Lotar, Maciek, Nicolai, Oktawiusz, Przemek, Reece, Szarbel, Tymek, Umut, Vitali, Wolfgang, Yanis, Zawisza

On the girls’ side: Jutrzenka means “dawn” in Polish, and Nasturcja is the Polish word for nasturtium (a type of flower).

On the boys’ side: Hleb (Belarusian) comes from Gleb (Russian), which comes from Guðleifr (Old Norse: “god” + “heir”), and Zawisza can be traced back to a Slavic word meaning “envy.”

Finally, here are Poland’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Imiona nadawane dzieciom w Polsce – Otwarte Dane, Births drop to new postwar low in Poland as population falls almost 1 million in a decade – Notes from Poland, Behind the Name

Image: Adapted from Flag of Poland (public domain)

What gave the baby name Gordon a boost in 1963?

The Cooper family -- Camala, Janita, Trudy, and Gordon -- with Jacqueline and John F. Kennedy (May, 1963)
The Coopers and the Kennedys

The name Gordon, after ranking as one of the top 100 boy names in the nation from the early 1910s to the early 1940s, began to decline in usage. Amid that decline, Gordon saw a conspicuous uptick in 1963:

  • 1965: 1,445 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 178th]
  • 1964: 1,770 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 167th]
  • 1963: 2,084 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 158th]
  • 1962: 1,783 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 173rd]
  • 1961: 1,990 baby boys named Gordon [rank: 165th]

What caused it?

Astronaut Leroy Gordon Cooper (who went by Gordon, or “Gordo”).

Cooper learned to fly planes during his childhood in Oklahoma. After joining the Air Force in 1949, he worked first as a fighter pilot, then as a test pilot.

In 1959, he was selected by NASA to fly spacecraft for the country’s first human spaceflight program, Project Mercury.

In May of 1963, he piloted Mercury’s final crewed mission — which nearly ended in disaster when the spacecraft’s autopilot system failed while Cooper was preparing to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere:

After being strapped in the 6-ft.-wide Faith 7 for nearly a day and a half, he had to take over when the best equipment that the best of science could provide failed. He had to respond with incredible precision to directions from earth; he had to show a kind of skill and nerve and calm that no man has ever had to demonstrate.

Cooper performed a risky manual re-entry and returned to Earth unharmed.

Speaking of Earth, he’d orbited the planet 22 times during the 34 hours and 20 minutes he’d spent in space. (Cooper logged “more spaceflight time than the other five Mercury flights combined.”)

The success of the mission made Gordon Cooper a celebrity. He was honored with several parades (including a ticker-tape parade in New York City), featured on the cover of both Life and Time magazines, and given a number of awards (such as the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, presented by President John F. Kennedy).

The surname Cooper also got a slight boost (as a baby name) in the early ’60s, reaching then-peak usage in 1964:

  • 1966: 15 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1965: 26 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1964: 30 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1963: 18 baby boys named Cooper
  • 1962: 8 baby boys named Cooper

Even Gordon Cooper’s family — his wife Gertrude (“Trudy”) and teenage daughters Camala Keoki (“Cam”) and Janita Lee (“Jan”) — influenced the baby name charts.

Gertrude, Janita, and Camala Cooper on the cover of Cosmopolitan magazine (Sept. 1963)
Trudy, Jan, and Cam Gordon

The baby name Trudy saw its last prominent spike in usage in 1963, and the uncommon names Camala (pronounced CAM-uh-luh) and Janita (pronounced jah-NEE-tuh) both peaked that year as well:

Girls named TrudyGirls named CamalaGirls named Janita
1965584 [377th]2238
1964672 [365th]936
1963851 [325th]37†57†
1962717 [355th]6*26
1961682 [367th].32
*Debut, †Peak usage

(The name Kamala peaked around the same time, but for a different reason.)

Gordo and Trudy met while attending the University of Hawaii. According to one source, they named their daughters “with a Hawaiian nostalgia.”

Ironically, the couple had long been estranged by 1963. They presented themselves as happily married to NASA — and to the public — because the space agency would only work with pilots who had stable home lives.

What are your thoughts on the names of Gordon Cooper’s daughters, Camala and Janita? Which name do you prefer?

P.S. A month after Cooper’s flight, the Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman (and first civilian) in space.

Sources:

Images:

Popular baby names in the Netherlands, 2023

Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands

Last year, from January to November, the Netherlands welcomed 164,269 babies — 80,074 girls and 84,195 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Julia and Noah.

Here are the Netherlands’ top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Julia, 681 baby girls
  2. Olivia, 605
  3. Mila, 603
  4. Emma, 596
  5. Sophie, 578
  6. Nora, 543
  7. Yara, 493
  8. Saar, 491
  9. Noor, 488
  10. Tess, 478
  11. Sara, 469
  12. Milou, 449
  13. Evi, 446
  14. Zoë, 441
  15. Luna, 428
  16. Liv, 425
  17. Elin, 423
  18. Anna, 421
  19. Nina, 405
  20. Maeve, 403
  21. Lina, 392
  22. Lauren, 391
  23. Lotte, 380
  24. Eva, 372
  25. Mia, 368
  26. Maud, 360
  27. Sofia, 357
  28. Sarah, 353
  29. Emily, 344
  30. Lynn, 333
  31. Sofie, 328
  32. Ella, 325
  33. Loïs, 324
  34. Livia, 318
  35. Hailey, 310
  36. Fleur, 309
  37. Lieke, 306
  38. Julie, 301
  39. Isa, 300
  40. Nova, 299
  41. Fenna, 296
  42. Noa, 291
  43. Roos, 275
  44. Noé, 266
  45. Sophia, 259
  46. Lily, 253
  47. Romée, 251
  48. Hannah, 246
  49. Fien, 242
  50. Bo, 238

Boy names

  1. Noah, 888 baby boys
  2. Luca, 674
  3. Lucas, 648
  4. Liam, 643
  5. Levi, 601
  6. Sem, 587
  7. Daan, 573
  8. Mees, 571
  9. Noud, 567
  10. James, 561
  11. Milan, 534
  12. Adam, 532
  13. Finn, 527
  14. Sam, 521
  15. Zayn, 495
  16. Luuk, 489
  17. Mason, 432
  18. Bram, 420
  19. Mats, 397
  20. Guus, 372
  21. Siem, 366
  22. Boaz, 360
  23. Benjamin, 356 (tie)
  24. Gijs, 356 (tie)
  25. Jesse, 353
  26. Thomas, 333
  27. Olivier, 331
  28. Otis, 324
  29. Teun, 320
  30. Owen, 310
  31. Oliver, 305 (tie)
  32. Thijs, 305 (tie)
  33. Morris, 304
  34. Moos, 303
  35. Jens, 299
  36. Floris, 298
  37. Joep, 294
  38. Jan, 289
  39. Ties, 286
  40. Mick, 282
  41. Max, 279
  42. Abel, 276
  43. Jake, 275
  44. David, 273 (tie)
  45. Tobias, 273 (tie)
  46. Julian, 270
  47. Jip, 266
  48. Lars, 264
  49. Hugo, 260
  50. Mohammed, 255

The girls’ top 100 included Juna (tied for 59th), Lizzy (tied for 71st), Loua (76th), and Novi (tied for 88th).

The boys’ top 100 included Jurre (tied for 52nd), Fedde (59th), Aiden (74th), and Cas (96th).

Map of the 12 provinces of the Netherlands
The Netherlands’ 12 provinces

Home to nearly 18 million people, the Netherlands is divided into 12 provinces. The most popular baby names within each of the 12 provinces last year were…

Top girl nameTop boy name
South Holland
(21.4% of the population)		OliviaNoah
North Holland
(16.6% of pop.)		OliviaNoah
North Brabant
(14.7% of pop.)		SaarNoud
Gelderland
(12.0% of pop.)		JuliaNoah
Utrecht
(7.8% of pop.)		NoraLucas
Overijssel
(6.6% of pop.)		JuliaLuca
Limburg
(6.3% of pop.)		EmmaNoah
Friesland
(3.7% of pop.)		LiekeHidde
Groningen
(3.3% of pop.)		ElinNoah
Drenthe
(2.8% of pop.)		LotteDaan
Flevoland
(2.5% of pop.)		HaileyJan
Zeeland
(2.2% of pop.)		OliviaLucas

Finally, here are the Netherlands’ 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: Kindernamen home | Kindernamen | SVB, Julia en Noah de populairste kindernamen van 2023, Regionale kerncijfers Nederland – CBS StatLine

Image: Adapted from Flag of the Netherlands (public domain)
Map: Adapted from Provinces of the Netherlands by Arz under CC BY-SA 3.0.