Jan
Meaning and origin
Contraction of Johan (“John”). Recorded in Sweden since the 17th century.
Source: Wiktionary, Swedish entry for Jan (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Jan has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2018. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | 12 |
| 1999 | 14 |
| 2000 | 10 |
| 2001 | 12 |
| 2002 | 15 |
| 2003 | 11 |
| 2004 | 11 |
| 2005 | 13 |
| 2006 | 13 |
| 2007 | 16 |
| 2008 | 11 |
| 2009 | 17 |
| 2010 | 17 |
| 2011 | 17 |
| 2012 | 24 |
| 2013 | 21 |
| 2014 | 27 |
| 2015 | 21 |
| 2016 | 33 |
| 2017 | 25 |
| 2018 | 38 |
| 2019 | 32 |
| 2020 | 25 |
| 2021 | 20 |
| 2022 | 23 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | – | 74,197 |
| 2000 | – | 73,151 |
| 2001 | – | 72,116 |
| 2002 | – | 71,224 |
| 2003 | – | 70,243 |
| 2004 | – | 69,176 |
| 2005 | – | 68,309 |
| 2006 | – | 67,533 |
| 2007 | – | 67,029 |
| 2008 | – | 66,550 |
| 2009 | – | 66,059 |
| 2010 | – | 65,410 |
| 2011 | – | 64,831 |
| 2012 | – | 64,276 |
| 2013 | – | 63,620 |
| 2014 | – | 62,982 |
| 2015 | – | 62,282 |
| 2016 | – | 61,551 |
| 2017 | 12 | 60,773 |
| 2018 | 13 | 59,867 |
| 2019 | 13 | 58,958 |
| 2020 | 12 | 57,832 |
Jan in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Jan.Hi! My name is Jan.
- Jan har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Jan has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Jans mamma är lärare.Jan's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Jans mamma is Jan's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Jan
How do you pronounce Jan in Swedish?
In IPA, Jan is [ˈjɑːn]. Press Listen at the top of the page to hear it from a native speaker's recording.
What does the name Jan mean?
Contraction of Johan (“John”). Recorded in Sweden since the 17th century.
How popular is Jan in Sweden?
23 babies were named Jan in 2022. In 2020, 57,844 people in Sweden had Jan as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2018 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.