Johan

What Johan means

Variant of Joan, meaning “God is gracious”

variant of Joan || A clipped or hypochoristic form of Joanna, from Latin Joanna, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doubl

Source: Wiktionary, “Johan” (revision 93671820) and “Joan” (revision 93671796), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Johan?

US: Steady: #559 in 2015, #572 now. England & Wales: Rising: up from #1236 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2016, when 659 boys got the name (#463 that year). First in the US records in 1910.

How common

• About 1 in 3,310 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 9,065 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NV (0.71 per 1,000 boys), NJ (0.63 per 1,000 boys), MD (0.61 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Johan is #572 in the US and #1007 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Johan were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Johann85 US · 9 E&W
• Jahan42 US · 3 E&W
• Jahaan21 US · 5 E&W
• Jihan13 US · 3 E&W
• Jehan7 US
• Jihaan5 US
• Johaan0 US · 3 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Johan

Boys

• Malachi#134“my messenger”^*
• Elijah#7“Yahweh is my god”^*
• Zion#142Editor’s note Up from #227 in 2015 to #142 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 680 US boys in the 2025 records
• Simon#230“sixpence coin”^*
• Nehemiah#429“consolation of Yahweh”^*
• Emmanuel#179Editor’s note Down from #151 in 2015 to #179 in 2025 in the US

For a sister

• Sarai#424“master, chief”^*
• Ava#11Editor’s note Down from #4 in 2015 to #11 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 210 US girls in the 2025 records
• Isabella#7Form of Isabel, meaning “my God is an oath”^*
• Azaria#638Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1988, with 6 babies
• Maya#62Editor’s note Steady in the US: #68 in 2015 and #62 in 2025. About 1 in 430 US girls in the 2025 records
• Eve#519Editor’s note Down from #470 in 2015 to #519 in 2025 in the US

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Hebrew, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Johan’s. Rank is US 2025.