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San

San is a unisex given name: about 33% of people named San are men and 67% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

Mostly femaleMedium
Male 33%Female 67%
Verdict
Mostly female
Male / female split
33% male / 67% female
Confidence
Medium (8 to 63 weighted country observations)
Most common in
United States, Korea
US births since 1880
599 male / 1,856 female
Data
nam_dict (GFDL) + US SSA
Updated
2026-09-11

How to address San

To address San when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear San," in English, "Guten Tag San," in German. About 33% of people named San are men and 67% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.

Ready-made greetings in six languages

English

Dear San,

German

Guten Tag San,

French

Bonjour San,

Spanish

Estimado/a San:

Chinese

San您好：

Japanese

San様

English

Hi San,

German

Hi San,

French

Salut San,

Spanish

Hola San,

Chinese

San你好：

Japanese

Sanさん

Greeting generator

This is a statistical estimate, not a statement about the gender, identity or correct form of address of any particular person.

Country breakdown

Gender of the name San by country (nam_dict, 55 country columns)
CountryHow commonUsuallyMale share
United Statesuncommonwoman's name24%
Koreauncommonunisex name50%

United States birth data

599 male · 1,856 female · 2,455 births recorded

Male 24%Female 76%

Since 1980: 54% male.

Frequently asked questions

Is San a male or female name?

San is a unisex given name: about 33% of people named San are men and 67% are women, so a gendered salutation is a coin flip and the neutral form is the safe choice.

How do I address San in an email?

To address San when you do not know their gender, use the full name with no title: "Dear San," in English, "Guten Tag San," in German. About 33% of people named San are men and 67% are women, so a gendered salutation is close to a coin flip, and the neutral form above is the safer choice.

Is San a unisex name?

San is not a unisex name: 33% of people named San are men. San leans strongly female overall.

Related names

MariaFemaleAnnaFemaleMarieFemalePeterMaleJeanDepends on the countryAlexanderMaleDavidMaleJoseMale

Sources

Gender by country: nam_dict, the c't first-names dictionary by Joerg Michael, roughly 44,000 names across 55 countries, licensed GFDL. US frequencies: United States Social Security Administration baby-name data, public domain. Method: how we classify names. Full dataset: data & licences. Data built 2026-09-11.

Cite this page

DearWho, "Is San a male or female name?", https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/san (accessed 2026-09-11). Data: nam_dict (J. Michael, GFDL) and US SSA, built 2026-09-11.

BibTeX
@misc{dearwho_san,
  title  = {Is San a male or female name?},
  author = {{DearWho}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://dearwho.vercel.app/name/san},
  note   = {Data: nam_dict (GFDL), US SSA public domain}
}