Yan is a short name with more than one source: it is a Slavic and Hebrew-influenced form of John, "God is gracious", and also a common Chinese given name whose meaning depends on the character, often "swallow" (the bird) or "strict". In the United States it is used by families of Russian, Israeli, Brazilian and Chinese background alike. Yan has risen from number 5903 in 2000 to number 2386 in 2025, its best rank yet.