Fun Facts About the Name Hakan
- 377 babies named Hakan: U.S. records list 377 babies given the name Hakan from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Hakan Mean?
Hakan is a Turkish masculine name taken from the old Turkic title qağan - written kağan in modern Turkish and khagan in English - meaning "supreme ruler" or "emperor." The title belonged to the ruler who stood above subordinate khans in the steppe states of Inner Asia. The word itself is Turkic, and the name is Turkish. The related term qan (khan) means "ruler" or "chieftain," and the connection between the two is debated: some scholars treat qağan as an expanded, emphatic form of qan, while others regard them as separate titles that came to overlap in meaning. The familiar gloss "khan of khans" describes the rank the title carried rather than a literal, part-by-part translation.
Hakan Name History & Origins
The title qağan appears in the early medieval written record of Inner Asia. Chinese sources transcribe it as kèhán (可汗), and it is associated with steppe confederations such as the Rouran before becoming the standard designation of the Turkic Khaganate founded in the middle of the sixth century. In the eighth-century Orkhon inscriptions of the Second Turkic Khaganate, including the monument to Bilge Kağan, the word is used for the ruler of the state. From the Turkic and para-Mongolic world the title spread widely: the Khazars, Uyghurs, and Avars used forms of it, and among the Mongols khagan distinguished the great khan from other khans. Whether the title goes back to the Xiongnu or to another earlier people is debated, and the surviving evidence does not settle the question.
As a personal name, Hakan belongs to the Turkish-speaking world, where it is used both as a given name and as a surname. It shares its root with the closely related Turkish names Kağan and the shortened Kaan, all three drawn from the same old title. Because Hakan comes from a word for sovereign authority rather than from a saint, a literary figure, or a family name, its story is the story of the title as it passed into Turkish usage as a name.
How Popular is the Name Hakan?
Hakan has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 2017. Its best rank was #3,831 in 1973.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #7,860 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 2024 | #5,729 | 16 | 0.0009% |
| 2023 | #7,047 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2022 | #5,960 | 15 | 0.0009% |
| 2021 | #8,398 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2020 | #7,186 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2019 | #8,431 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2018 | #6,844 | 12 | 0.0007% |
| 2017 | #5,169 | 18 | 0.0010% |
| 2016 | #7,792 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2015 | #7,685 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2014 | #6,785 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2013 | #7,206 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2012 | #6,762 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2011 | #6,738 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2009 | #7,377 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2008 | #11,554 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2007 | #6,793 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 2006 | #7,104 | 11 | 0.0005% |
| 2005 | #9,468 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2004 | #6,698 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 2003 | #6,900 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2002 | #8,781 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2001 | #7,118 | 9 | 0.0005% |
| 2000 | #4,460 | 17 | 0.0009% |
| 1999 | #8,167 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1998 | #5,609 | 11 | 0.0006% |
| 1997 | #5,072 | 12 | 0.0006% |
| 1995 | #8,168 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1994 | #8,123 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1989 | #8,363 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1988 | #6,719 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1986 | #7,117 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1985 | #6,927 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1982 | #6,719 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1981 | #6,644 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1980 | #5,797 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1975 | #5,785 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1974 | #5,509 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1973 | #3,831 | 8 | 0.0005% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Hakan Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You attract success and money. You are a lover of nature and do not need others for your happiness. You are self sufficient. You strive for material success and power and have business sense. You possess strong organizational abilities, can be a good manager, and executive by nature. You are capable of great achievement in business and finance. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Hakan's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Hakan's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.