# Van (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/van/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /væn/, 1 syllable |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 31,194 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 29,432 / 1,762 (6% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 43, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Shortening.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 23 | 5,925 |
| 2012 | 27 | 5,247 |
| 2013 | 13 | 9,014 |
| 2014 | 18 | 6,967 |
| 2015 | 24 | 5,644 |
| 2016 | 20 | 6,387 |
| 2017 | 18 | 6,786 |
| 2018 | 12 | 9,119 |
| 2019 | 11 | 9,693 |
| 2020 | 10 | 10,199 |
| 2021 | 8 | 12,123 |
| 2022 | 6 | 15,171 |
| 2023 | 16 | 7,225 |
| 2024 | 10 | 10,211 |
| 2025 | 8 | 11,852 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 283 | 790 |
| 2012 | 249 | 854 |
| 2013 | 255 | 840 |
| 2014 | 300 | 778 |
| 2015 | 273 | 827 |
| 2016 | 236 | 917 |
| 2017 | 236 | 908 |
| 2018 | 267 | 836 |
| 2019 | 257 | 866 |
| 2020 | 260 | 868 |
| 2021 | 265 | 876 |
| 2022 | 242 | 944 |
| 2023 | 255 | 910 |
| 2024 | 257 | 913 |
| 2025 | 236 | 972 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 3 | 5,876 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 5 | 2,020 |
| 1997 | 3 | 2,859 |
| 2007 | 3 | 4,333 |
| 2010 | 3 | 4,678 |
| 2012 | 3 | 4,805 |
| 2013 | 3 | 4,685 |
| 2016 | 3 | 4,810 |
| 2017 | 3 | 4,812 |
| 2018 | 4 | 3,959 |
| 2020 | 7 | 2,682 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5,137 |

## People named Van

- Van Heflin, American actor (1908–1971)
- Van Johnson, American actor (1916–2008)
- Van Jones, American environmental advocate and civil rights activist
- Van Williams, American actor (1934–2016)
- Van McCoy, American musician, producer and songwriter (1940–1979)
- Van Alexander, American bandleader, arranger, and composer (1915–2015)
- Van Taylor, American businessman and politician
- Van Hansis, American television, stage, and film actor
- Van Jacobson, computer scientist and primary contributor to the TCP/IP protocol
- Van Partible, American animator
- Hieu Van Le, former Australian governor of Vietnamese origin
- Van Leo, Egyptian photographer (1921–2002)

## 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.