# Hans (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/hans/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | German |
| Meaning | “john” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈhæns/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Hanns |
| US babies named this | 15,682 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 15,677 / 5 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 212, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from German Hans (occasionally used in English), a medieval short form of Johannes (“John”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 5 | 7,872 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 67 | 2,027 |
| 2012 | 91 | 1,680 |
| 2013 | 98 | 1,581 |
| 2014 | 134 | 1,313 |
| 2015 | 121 | 1,421 |
| 2016 | 132 | 1,351 |
| 2017 | 145 | 1,260 |
| 2018 | 122 | 1,438 |
| 2019 | 123 | 1,423 |
| 2020 | 117 | 1,465 |
| 2021 | 137 | 1,352 |
| 2022 | 133 | 1,400 |
| 2023 | 112 | 1,561 |
| 2024 | 145 | 1,325 |
| 2025 | 146 | 1,325 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 7 | 2,613 |
| 2012 | 4 | 3,987 |
| 2013 | 3 | 4,685 |
| 2014 | 12 | 1,819 |
| 2015 | 6 | 3,004 |
| 2016 | 5 | 3,478 |
| 2017 | 10 | 2,172 |
| 2018 | 8 | 2,445 |
| 2019 | 6 | 3,013 |
| 2020 | 6 | 2,960 |
| 2021 | 6 | 3,017 |
| 2022 | 9 | 2,320 |
| 2023 | 7 | 2,813 |
| 2024 | 6 | 3,254 |
| 2025 | 5 | 3,684 |

## People named Hans

- Hans Christian Andersen, Danish writer and poet (1805–1875)
- Hans Christian Ørsted, Danish physicist and chemist (1777-1851)
- Hans Bethe, German-American nuclear physicist
- Hans Zimmer, German film composer (born 1957)
- Hans Holbein the Younger, German artist and printmaker (1497–1543)
- Hans Krebs, German-British biochemist (1900-1981)
- Hans Frank, German lawyer, Nazi politician, General Governor of Nazi occupied Poland and convicted war
- Hans Fischer, German chemist (1881–1945)
- Hans Spemann, German embryologist (1869–1941)
- Hans Morgenthau, American political scientist (1904–1980)
- Hans Eysenck, British psychologist (1916–1997)
- Hans Kelsen, Austrian lawyer (1881–1973)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.