San
Recorded 1911–2025 · United States
San was most popular in 1950, when 74 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,799 that year. In 2025 it ranked #13,540, with 13 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,502 people named San.
San over time
How old is the name San?
San first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1911, which makes it about 114 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 99 of the 115 years since.
How many people are named San?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 2,502 American births named San between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 2,060 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named San in 2025?
13 American babies were named San in 2025, ranking #13,540 that year.
Is San getting more or less popular?
San is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 12 births a year across 2021–2025 against 9 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Is San a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record San is a unisex name — 75.0% of the 2,502 Americans given it were girls and 25.0% were boys. It changed hands: since 1987 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 40% girls and 60% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named San?
Roughly 2,060 Americans named San are alive today — 82% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 56 years old, and half are between 43 and 67.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Where San is most concentrated
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
Explore further
See San on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org