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/).
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.
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.
Jan's popularity over time
5,054 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #4 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2000.
Where Jan is most popular
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).
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Masovian8,650 boys born+17%
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Świętokrzyskie1,320 boys born+14%
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Łódź2,987 boys born+13%
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Lublin2,206 boys born+3%
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Greater Poland4,551 boys born+2%
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Lesser Poland4,763 boys born+1%
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Podlaskie1,382 boys born+1%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian2,249 boys born−1%
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Warmian-Masurian1,482 boys born−1%
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Pomeranian2,909 boys born−5%
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Subcarpathian2,298 boys born−8%
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West Pomeranian1,604 boys born−9%
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Lower Silesian2,885 boys born−12%
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Lubusz890 boys born−14%
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Silesian3,984 boys born−16%
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Opole800 boys born−17%
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.
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1638,387Jan
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2
603,686Piotr
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3
447,673Stanisław
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4
406,153Andrzej
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5
399,071Paweł
When Jan celebrates name day
Jan appears 6 times in the Polish name day calendar. The main date is 31 January.