# Sagan (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/sagan/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,193 |
| US rank (2010) | 21,790 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 258,798 people |
| Change since 2000 | +4.3% (1,144 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈseɪɡən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

The unit is derived from the phrase "billions and billions (of stars)", erroneously attributed to the American astronomer Carl Sagan. The lower bound of such a number must be two billion plus two billion, or four billion. Johnny Carson popularized the phrase through his occasional impersonation of Sagan throughout his career.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Sagan in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 95% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 1.3% |
| Two or more races | 0.8% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Sagan in the United States and South Africa.

## People named Sagan

- Carl Sagan, American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author (1934–1996)
- Leontine Sagan, Austrian-Hungarian stage and film director
- Nick Sagan, American writer
- Linda Salzman Sagan, American artist and writer (1940–2023)
- Jeanne Sagan, American musician

## Similar surnames

Sahagun, Sisson, Saxon, Sison, Seguin, Session, Saxena, Scoggin, Scogin, Sekhon, Sachsen.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.