boy's name
Yann
YAHN
- Origin Breton
- Gender Boy
- Letters 4
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 88,418
France
#459
2025 births
Yann is the Breton John, and Brittany is the reason it exists — Britons fleeing the Anglo-Saxons carried a Brittonic language to Armorica, so Yann is closer kin to Welsh Ioan than to French Jean.
- Yann is a name of Breton origin.
- Peaked in France in 1972, when 3,310 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade in France.
- Today about 1 in 5,895 babies in France is given this name.
- First appears in birth records in 1908.
Yann over time
Births per decade in France, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 10 |
| 1920s | 40 |
| 1930s | 95 |
| 1940s | 505 |
| 1950s | 1,945 |
| 1960s | 8,410 |
| 1970s | 27,225 |
| 1980s | 19,495 |
| 1990s | 13,535 |
| 2000s | 10,350 |
| 2010s | 4,485 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 840 |
What Yann means
Yann means God is gracious, from the Hebrew Yochanan. The Breton form carries the sense unchanged, taking it through Latin and French rather than inventing it.
Where Yann comes from
Yann is the Breton form of John, from the Hebrew Yochanan — Yah, the divine name, joined to chanan, to be gracious. Breton is a Brittonic language, brought to Armorica from Britain in the fifth and sixth centuries as Anglo-Saxon settlement pushed west, so it is a close relative of Welsh and Cornish rather than of French. Yannick, written up separately, is its diminutive. Yann is one of the few Breton names to have spread across France as a whole.
Yann in use
Yann peaked in France in 1972, when 3,310 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 459th in France on 100 births, 5978th in England and Wales and 7381st in the United States, across 88,418 lifetime births in four of the seven markets we track. Our records carry it from 1900.
How popular is Yann?
In 2025, Yann was given to 100 babies in France, ranking #459 that year. It is a rare choice.
Where Yann is used
French counts are rounded to the nearest five and nothing below five is published, so these figures show the shape of the name's use rather than an exact tally. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Yann
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Yann also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Yann over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Yann in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Yann
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Yann — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Yann
What does the name Yann mean?
God is gracious — the Breton form of John.
Is Breton related to French?
No. It is Brittonic, brought from Britain, and closer to Welsh and Cornish.
Is Yannick related?
Yes — Yannick is the Breton diminutive of Yann.
How popular is Yann?
459th in France, down from a 1972 peak of 3,310 births.
Is Yann a girl's or a boy's name?
Yann is given almost entirely to boys in birth records.
Is Yann a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Yann currently ranks #459 in France. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.