Kwan
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Meaning
ruler or lord; a person of cultivated character (君)
The story
Kwan in this collection represents 君, a character read in Cantonese and associated with a ruler or lord and, by extension, a person of cultivated character. The character is the evidence. The same Latin spelling can point to another Chinese character, while the same written character can appear under a different romanization elsewhere. Hong Kong names are normally written in characters and receive a romanized form for English-language settings. Kwan is a one-character given name, a compact pattern beside the more common two-character form. Its page's US curve stays near the floor and shows only a faint recent trace. That does not measure how familiar the name is in Hong Kong; it measures what American birth records can see. The honest story therefore begins with 君, not with an English-looking syllable. In that documented form, Kwan carries a small, clear idea chosen to travel across scripts.
How popular is Kwan around the world?
In the United States, 22 babies were named Kwan between 2020 and 2025.
Kwan is on the official records of the United States and Brazil.
United States
1 in 990,000
In the United States, 22 babies were named Kwan between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Kwan has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Brazil
1 in 1M
At the 2022 census, 162 people in Brazil were named Kwan, ranked 29,495th, with a median age of 15.
Among people named Kwan living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
South Australia
last on record 1993
Kwan is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Kwan
Most people given the name Kwan in the United States were born between 1970 and 2009. The Kwan you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Where Kwan travels
Thai · blessing, soul, spirit
Keep exploring
Thai baby names · Cantonese and Hong Kong baby names · Short names
The Kwan deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Kwan 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 Kwan fits with your family’s names and surname.
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