Jan (Persian name)

Jan or Jaan (, ) 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 and Hindi languages.

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).

See also

• Can (name)
• Jan (disambiguation)

Notes

References