Ngan
A feminine Vietnamese name meaning "silver" or "precious metal".
Name Census estimates that about 212 living Americans carry the first name Ngan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Ngan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ngan births was 1991 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ngan. 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.
People living today
212
~ 1 in 1,616,766 Americans
Peak year
1991
15 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2021 SSA rank
#16,987
Tracked since 1982
Census
Ngan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,448 people with the first name Ngan, which placed it at #4,272 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
#4,272
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,448 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
98.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ngan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ngan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.6%. The next largest groups are White (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Ngan 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 Ngan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander98.6% · 4,386
- White0.7% · 31
- Two or more races0.4% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino0.2% · 9
- Black or African American0.1% · 5
Popularity
Ngan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ngan from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 84 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ngan 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 Ngan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Ngans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Ngan
The name Ngan is of Vietnamese origin, derived from the Chinese character 銀, meaning "silver" or "money." This name has been in use for centuries in Vietnam and parts of China.
In ancient Vietnam, the name Ngan was often given to girls born into wealthy families or those with connections to the silver trade. It was seen as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name Ngan was a Vietnamese princess named Ngan Tran, who lived in the 13th century. She was the daughter of Emperor Tran Thai Tong and was known for her beauty and intelligence.
Another notable figure with the name Ngan was Ngan Giang, a Vietnamese poet and scholar who lived in the 17th century. She was highly respected for her literary works and her contributions to the preservation of Vietnamese culture.
In the 19th century, Ngan Thi Nhu Quynh was a Vietnamese revolutionary and activist who fought against French colonial rule. She was known for her bravery and her unwavering commitment to the cause of Vietnamese independence.
In more recent history, Ngan Le was a Vietnamese-American actress and model who appeared in several Hollywood films in the 1980s and 1990s. She was born in 1973 and rose to prominence for her roles in films like "The Forbidden Kingdom" and "Tropic Thunder."
Another notable figure with the name Ngan was Ngan Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American author and journalist. Born in 1976, she has written several books and articles exploring the experiences of Vietnamese immigrants in the United States.
While the name Ngan has its roots in Vietnamese and Chinese culture, it has also been adopted by people of other ethnicities around the world. However, its rich history and cultural significance remain deeply rooted in its Southeast Asian origins.
People
Ngan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ngan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Ngan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ngan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 212 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ngan 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 1,616,766 US residents.
Is Ngan a common name?
We classify Ngan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 219 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ngan most popular?
The single biggest year for Ngan was 1991, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ngan 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 Ngan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,448 people with the name Ngan, or 1.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,272 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 Ngan 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 Ngan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ngan leans strongly female. 3,981 people counted with this name were female (89.5%), compared with 465 male bearers (10.5%). 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 Ngan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ngan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 98.6%. The next largest groups are White (0.7%) and Two or More Races (0.4%). 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 Ngan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Ngan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.6% (4,386 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 Ngan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ngan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Ngan 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 Ngan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ngan 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 Ngan 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 have the name Ngan?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.