- Origin: English
- Gender: Masculine
- Meaning: “marsh, fen.”
- Pronunciation: VANTS
- First appearance: possibly 1611
From a Southern English dialectal form of Old English fenn (fen, marsh), this was a surname that was later transferred as a male first name. Earliest record of this name I could find is for a Vans Bartlett, christened 1611 of Devon, England, followed by a Vance Sullivan, christened 1681 of Herefordshire, England.
It first appeared in the U.S. Top 1000 male names in 1880, it peaked at #328 in 1969 and currently stands as the 976th most popular male name (2022).
Notable bearers include pulitzer prize winning journalist, Vance Trimble (1913-2021) and Australian singer and songwriter, Vance Joy.
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