Gian
A masculine given name derived from the Italian form of John.
Name Census estimates that about 4,702 living Americans carry the first name Gian. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Gian today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Gian births was 2023 (328 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Gian. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Gian with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Gian is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 18 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.7K
~ 1 in 72,895 Americans
Peak year
2023
328 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#893
Tracked since 1953
Census
Gian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,625 people with the first name Gian, which placed it at #4,152 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#4,152
National first-name rank
People counted
4.6K
4,625 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
48.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Gian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gian is Hispanic at 48.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.0%) and White (20.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Gian described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Gian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino48.5% · 2,241
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.0% · 1,155
- White20.0% · 924
- Black or African American3.7% · 172
- Two or more races2.7% · 124
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 9
Popularity
Gian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Gian from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,284 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Gian by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Gian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Gians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 22 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Gian, while Ohio, Minnesota, Colorado recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 144 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Gian
The name Gian originates from the Italian language and has its roots in the Latin name Joannes, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name Gian is a shortened form of the Italian name Giovanni, which is the equivalent of John in English.
The earliest recorded use of the name Gian dates back to the Middle Ages in Italy. It was particularly popular among the Italian nobility and upper classes during the Renaissance period. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the first Duke of Milan, who lived from 1351 to 1402.
Another prominent historical figure with the name Gian was Gian Giacomo Paleari, an Italian Protestant reformer and martyr who was burned at the stake in 1566 for his religious beliefs. In the world of art, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, the renowned Italian sculptor and architect, is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures of the Baroque period. He lived from 1598 to 1680.
Moving forward in time, Gian Rinaldo Carli, an Italian economist and philosopher, made significant contributions to the field of economics in the 18th century. He was born in 1720 and lived until 1795. Another notable figure was Gian Domenico Romagnosi, an Italian philosopher and jurist who lived from 1761 to 1835 and played a crucial role in the development of legal theory and jurisprudence in Italy.
In more recent history, Gian Maria Volonté was an Italian actor and filmmaker who gained international recognition for his performances in films such as "Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion" and "Christ Stopped at Eboli." He lived from 1933 to 1994 and was widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of his generation.
These are just a few examples of the many notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Gian, a name with deep roots in Italian culture and a rich historical legacy.
People
Gian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Gian as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with G
Other first names starting with G with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Gian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Gian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,702 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Gian going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 72,895 US residents.
Is Gian a common name?
We classify Gian as "Rare". It ranks above 96.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,787 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Gian most popular?
The single biggest year for Gian was 2023, when 328 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Gian is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Gian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,625 people with the name Gian, or 1.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,152 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Gian in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Gian?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Gian leans strongly male. 4,179 people counted with this name were male (90.3%), compared with 447 female bearers (9.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Gian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Gian is Hispanic at 48.5%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.0%) and White (20.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Gian most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Gian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.5% (2,241 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Gian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Gian a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Gian in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Gian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Gian in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Gian can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Gian?
Find out how many people have the name Gian on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.