Jehan
A masculine French name derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 478 living Americans carry the first name Jehan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 70.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Jehan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Jehan births was 1988 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Jehan. 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 Jehan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
478
~ 1 in 717,059 Americans
Peak year
1988
27 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,513
Tracked since 1976
Census
Jehan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,021 people with the first name Jehan, which placed it at #12,243 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
#12,243
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,021 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
42.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Jehan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jehan is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.3%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Jehan 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 Jehan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White42.4% · 433
- Asian and Pacific Islander27.3% · 279
- Black or African American15.6% · 159
- Two or more races7.8% · 80
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 70
Gender
Gender distribution for Jehan
Jehan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 496 total registrations, 149 (30.0%) were male and 347 (70.0%) were female.
Jehan as a male name
- Ranked #11,513 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2018 (10 births)
Jehan as a female name
- Ranked #14,545 in 2019
- 6 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1988 (27 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jehan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,016 people counted with this name, 289 were male (28.4%) and 727 were female (71.6%).
Popularity
Jehan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Jehan from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 145 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Jehan 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 Jehan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Jehans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Jehan
The name Jehan is a French derivative of the biblical name John, ultimately derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan. It was initially a medieval French spelling variation of the name Jean, which emerged during the Middle Ages. The name was particularly popular in France and regions influenced by French culture from the 12th to 15th centuries.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Jehan was Jehan de Meun, a medieval French poet and philosopher who lived from around 1240 to 1305. He is best known for co-authoring the famous medieval allegorical work "Roman de la Rose" (The Romance of the Rose) with Guillaume de Lorris.
Another notable figure was Jehan Froissart, a renowned French chronicler and poet who lived from around 1337 to 1405. He is renowned for his chronicles detailing the events of the Hundred Years' War between England and France, providing invaluable historical accounts of the era.
In the realm of art, Jehan Clouet, a French Renaissance painter active in the 16th century, was a prominent figure. He served as the official portrait painter for the French royal court under Francis I and is renowned for his exquisite portraits of the French nobility.
Jehan Bellegambe, a Flemish Renaissance painter who lived from around 1470 to 1535, was another notable bearer of the name. He was a prominent member of the Flemish Renaissance school of painting and is known for his religious and allegorical works.
Jehan Petit, a French scholar and theologian who lived from around 1360 to 1411, was a influential figure in his time. He is remembered for his defense of the assassination of Louis I, Duke of Orleans, and his role in shaping political and theological debates of the era.
The name Jehan was popular during the Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, particularly in France and regions influenced by French culture. While its usage has declined in modern times, it remains a testament to the rich cultural heritage and historical figures who have borne this name throughout the centuries.
People
Jehan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Jehan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with J
Other first names starting with J with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Jehan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Jehan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 478 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Jehan 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 717,059 US residents.
Is Jehan a common name?
We classify Jehan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 496 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Jehan most popular?
The single biggest year for Jehan was 1988, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Jehan is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Jehan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,021 people with the name Jehan, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,243 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 Jehan 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 Jehan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Jehan on both sides of the split. Of the 1,016 people counted with this name, 289 were male (28.4%) and 727 were female (71.6%). 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 Jehan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Jehan is White at 42.4%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (27.3%) and Black (15.6%). 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 Jehan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Jehan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 42.4% (433 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 Jehan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Jehan a female name?
Yes, 70.0% of people registered as Jehan in the SSA data are female. 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 Jehan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Jehan 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 Jehan 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 common is the name Jehan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.