Meaning of the nameIvan

Ivan is a male name taken from the Russian Ivan, the Slavic form of João, whose Hebrew etymon Yoḥanan means 'Yahweh is gracious'.

Meaning

“Slavic form of João, 'Yahweh is gracious'”

Source: Behind the Name: John

More names that mean grace

People (2022): 120,452
Rank in Brazil: #269
Median age: 42 years
2010 Census: 131,234; people

Ivan in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Ivan, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (29,053 people).

839 women 119,613 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Ivan is most common

States with the highest share of people named Ivan in the population, in the 2022 Census.

Santa Catarina 0.080%
Bahia 0.075%
Rio de Janeiro 0.066%
Amapá 0.064%
São Paulo 0.063%

All states

State	People	% of population
São Paulo	27,817	0.063%
Minas Gerais	11,859	0.058%
Bahia	10,581	0.075%
Rio de Janeiro	10,553	0.066%
Paraná	7,114	0.062%
Rio Grande do Sul	6,722	0.062%
Santa Catarina	6,052	0.080%
Pará	4,618	0.057%
Pernambuco	4,574	0.051%
Goiás	3,640	0.052%
Maranhão	3,498	0.052%
Ceará	3,047	0.035%
Amazonas	2,347	0.060%
Paraíba	2,092	0.053%
Espírito Santo	2,083	0.054%
Mato Grosso	2,048	0.056%
Rio Grande do Norte	1,679	0.051%
Distrito Federal	1,669	0.059%
Piauí	1,632	0.050%
Mato Grosso do Sul	1,619	0.059%
Alagoas	1,432	0.046%
Sergipe	1,086	0.049%
Rondônia	851	0.054%
Tocantins	689	0.046%
Amapá	470	0.064%
Roraima	357	0.056%
Acre	323	0.039%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Ivan

Wiktionary records Ivan as a borrowing of the Russian Иван and links it, as a divergent form, to João, Ian, Jean, Ruan and Geovane. Behind the Name explains Ivan as a newer form of the Old Church Slavonic Ioannŭ, from the Greek Ioannes, and, in the entry for John, gives the origin in the Hebrew Yoḥanan, 'Yahweh is gracious'. The Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil, citing Machado (1981), also links the Russian form to the Greek Ioánnes and matches it with João, probably passing through French. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 120,452 people named Ivan, with a median age of 42.

Sources

Wiktionary: Ivan · en.wiktionary.org · origin
Behind the Name: Ivan · behindthename.com · origin
Behind the Name: John · behindthename.com · meaning
Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Ivan · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · origin

Questions about the name Ivan

What does the name Ivan mean?

Ivan means “Slavic form of João, 'Yahweh is gracious'”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Ivan in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 120,452 people with the first name Ivan, which ranks it number 269 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Ivan a boy's or a girl's name?

Ivan is a male name: in the 2022 Census, 839 women and 119,613 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Ivan?

Ivan is a name of Slavic and Hebrew origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Ivan most common?

Proportionally, in Santa Catarina: 0.080% of the state's population is named Ivan (6,052 people), according to the 2022 Census.

Names that also mean grace

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More names of Slavic origin

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