Ivan
Meaning
“God is gracious”
Goes by Vanya
The story
Ivan is a Slavic descendant of the same ancient name family that gives English John. It developed from Old Church Slavic Ioannŭ, which came through Greek Ioannes from Hebrew Yochanan, traditionally God is gracious. Ivan belongs to many languages, including Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Czech, Slovak, and Slovene, with pronunciation changing across them. Rulers, writers, and scientists have carried it for centuries, so no one national history owns the name. The US curve is broad and durable. Ivan remains visible throughout the record, strengthens gradually after the 1970s, reaches its highest band in the 2010s, and stays strong in the 2020s. That pattern reflects a name sustained by many communities rather than one brief fashion. Ivan can sound recognizably Slavic while connecting to one of the world's largest name families, a local form with genuinely international relatives.
Ivan around the world
One shared root links 47 names across 10 languages.
Shared root: from Hebrew Yochanan "God is gracious", carried through Greek Ioannes and Latin Iohannes into nearly every European language
The constellation
38 more branches of this family
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Ivan peaked in the 2010s.
Popularity in Brazil
120,452 people · the #269 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,686 · median age 42
Among people named Ivan living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 1,119 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Ivan
Most people given the name Ivan in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Ivan deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Ivan truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Ivan fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Ivan travels
Ukrainian · Ukrainian form of John: God is gracious
Keep exploring
Names like Ivan · Nicknames for Ivan · Russian baby names · Ukrainian baby names · Short names
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