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Jan

Sits at number 14 among Polish first names, common enough that most people know several men who carry it. The Slavic form holds an old religious sense: "god is gracious."

Jan Pronunciation

Jan is pronounced YAHN (/jan/).

Alive in 2025
470,084
Newborns 2025
5,054
National rank
#14
Next name day
24 November
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What Jan means

Where Jan comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.

Jan comes from the Slavic stock of names that spread with Christianity, the Polish form of the older John. Its meaning reaches back to a Hebrew phrase rendered in Polish as bóg jest łaskawy, in English "god is gracious." That sense of grace was read into the name long after people first carried it.

Poland has crowned the name more than once. Jan III Sobieski led the relief of Vienna in 1683. The poet Jan Kochanowski shaped literary Polish with his Renaissance verse. Both are Jan, plain and unadorned.

On the imieniny of 24 June, name-day greetings still reach every Jan in a school register. The feminine variant Jana holds the same root across the gender line. What stays constant is the short meaning behind the sound: god is gracious.

When Jan celebrates name day

Jan appears 107 times in the Polish name day calendar, 6 of them as a main name, the first on 31 January.

Next name day
24 November
Tuesday in 2026
Next one in 30 days
Name days

The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.

Also celebrates

Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.

How many people are named Jan

1 in 45 men in Poland is named Jan. 470,084 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #14 among male names.

People with the name Jan 2019 → 2025
470,084 −46,521 since 2019
2020 513,632 −2,973
2021 503,927 −9,705
2022 493,290 −10,637
2023 485,107 −8,183
2024 477,853 −7,254
2025 470,084 −7,769

Jan's popularity over time

5,054 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #4 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.

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5,054 newborns with the name Jan in 2025
national rank #4 that year

Where parents choose Jan

Jan is given fairly evenly across Poland, with no strong regional preference. It leans slightly toward Masovian (17% above the national average) and is least common in Opole (17% below).

Chosen most
  • Masovian
    +17%
    1 in 41 babies
  • Holy Cross
    +14%
    1 in 42 babies
  • Łódź
    +13%
    1 in 42 babies
Chosen least
  • Opole
    −17%
    1 in 58 babies
  • Silesian
    −16%
    1 in 57 babies
  • Lubusz
    −14%
    1 in 56 babies

Jan as a middle name

Jan is a first name for 470,084 men in Poland and a middle name for another 638,387, a 42/58 split, almost evenly. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 1st.

As a first name
470,084
As a middle name
638,387
first name 42% middle name 58%
Middle-name ranking men

Look up another name

Search the register, or step through the ranking one place at a time.

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