Jan or Jaan (Persian: جان, romanized: jān, pronounced [dʒɑːn]) or jaan is name of Persian origin meaning for 'soul' or 'life', also used as a diminutive suffix attached to names and expressing intimacy, with a meaning roughly equivalent to "darling, dear". It is commonly used in all Iranic languages and borrowed as a loanword in Azerbaijani, Armenian, Turkish, Urdu, Hindi and Bengali languages.
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Given name
Jan Nisar Akhtar, Indian poet
Jan Fishan Khan, Afghan warlord
Jan Mohammad Jamali, Baluch Sardar
Jan Muhammad Junejo, Khilafat Movement leader
Jan Mohammed Khan, Afghan politician
Jan Uddin, British-Bangladeshi actor and model
Middle name
Ahmed Jan Thirakwa, Indian musician
Mohabbat Jan Chowdhury, Bangladeshi major general and minister
Sarwar Jan Chowdhury, Bangladeshi former member of parliament
Sarwar Jan Miah, Bangladeshi politician and lawyer
Surname
Ahmad Jan (Bagram detainee), Afghan detainee
Ahmad Jan (Taliban governor), Afghan governor
Hasan Jan (1938–2007), Pakistani assassinated Islamic scholar and politician
Khwaja Yusuf Jan, Bengali aristocrat and politician
Lalak Jan, Pakistani military personnel
Masood Jan, Pakistani blind cricketer
Mian Shakirullah Jan, Pashtun judge and member of the PCO Judges case protest
Razia Jan (1944–2025), Afghan-American business owner and activist
Variants
In Turkic languages, Jan is usually spelled Can (/dʒan ~ ʑan/) and is also used as a component in two-part names (Turkish: Berkecan, Tatar: Ğəlimcan / Галимҗан, etc.). When transliterated from Russian script, it is Dzhan (Джан), or alternatively, Zyan (Зян).
In Uzbek, Jan is Jon (Olimjon).
