Milan is a Slavic name from the element mil and means "gracious" or "dear", the same root as Miloš and Ludmila; for American parents it also evokes the Italian fashion capital, whose name has a different, Celtic origin. It is a classic in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Serbia and Croatia, and Milan Kundera is its best-known literary bearer. In the United States Milan entered the top 1000 for boys in 2013 and has climbed from number 425 in 2015 to number 242 in 2025.