Quan
An American name of Chinese origin meaning "bright" or "mighty".
Name Census estimates that about 1,405 living Americans carry the first name Quan. It is a predominantly male name (97.3% of registrations). The average person named Quan today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quan births was 1985 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quan. 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 Quan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 243,953 Americans
Peak year
1985
43 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,706
Tracked since 1966
Census
Quan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,261 people with the first name Quan, which placed it at #3,051 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
#3,051
National first-name rank
People counted
7.3K
7,261 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
78.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Quan 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 Quan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander78.3% · 5,686
- Black or African American15.0% · 1,086
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 271
- Two or more races1.7% · 120
- White1.2% · 87
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Quan
Quan leans heavily male at 97.3% of total registrations, but 39 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Quan as a male name
- Ranked #6,706 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1995 (43 births)
Quan as a female name
- Ranked #15,147 in 1993
- 5 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1981 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quan leans strongly male. 6,140 people counted with this name were male (84.5%), compared with 1,129 female bearers (15.5%).
Popularity
Quan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quan from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 355 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
Quan 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 Quan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Quans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Quan, while Michigan, Georgia, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Quan
The name Quan has its origins in the Chinese language, where it is a common given name for both males and females. The name is derived from the Chinese character "全" which means "whole" or "complete". It is believed to have been in use as a given name for over a thousand years, with records of the name appearing in ancient Chinese texts and historical records.
One of the earliest known references to the name Quan can be found in the Analects of Confucius, a collection of sayings and teachings attributed to the Chinese philosopher Confucius (551-479 BC). In this text, there is a mention of a person named Quan Zhong, who was a disciple of Confucius.
In Chinese history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Quan. One of the most famous was Quan Deyu (1759-1844), a Chinese scholar and philosopher who was known for his work on neo-Confucianism. Another notable figure was Quan Zuwang (1705-1755), a Chinese painter and calligrapher who was renowned for his landscape paintings and calligraphic works.
Outside of China, the name Quan has also been used in other cultures and regions. In Vietnam, for example, the name Quan is a variant of the more common name Quang, which also has its roots in Chinese. One notable Vietnamese figure who bore the name Quan was Quan Thuan (1948-2021), a Vietnamese-American writer and poet who was known for his works exploring themes of identity and exile.
In Japan, the name Quan is sometimes used as a variant of the Japanese name Kuan or Kan, which share similar meanings and origins with the Chinese name. One famous Japanese individual with the name Quan was Quan Zhi (1692-1758), a Confucian scholar and philosopher who was influential in the spread of neo-Confucianism in Japan.
Another notable bearer of the name Quan was Quan Fu (1837-1888), a Chinese diplomat and statesman who played a significant role in the late Qing dynasty. He served as the Qing Empire's ambassador to various countries, including Russia and the United States, and was known for his efforts to modernize China's diplomatic relations with foreign nations.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Quan. While the name has its origins in Chinese culture, its use has transcended borders and has been adopted by various other cultures and regions over the centuries.
People
Quan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,405 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quan 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 243,953 US residents.
Is Quan a common name?
We classify Quan as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,451 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quan most popular?
The single biggest year for Quan was 1985, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quan 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 Quan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,261 people with the name Quan, or 2.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,051 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 Quan 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 Quan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quan leans strongly male. 6,140 people counted with this name were male (84.5%), compared with 1,129 female bearers (15.5%). 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 Quan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 78.3%. The next largest groups are Black (15.0%) and Hispanic (3.7%). 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 Quan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Quan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.3% (5,686 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 Quan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quan a male name?
Yes, 97.3% of people registered as Quan 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 Quan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quan 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 Quan 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 share the name Quan?
Want to know how many people have the name Quan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.