An English surname, Vann originated as a locative name, referring either to specific places named Vann (such as two in Surrey: Vann in Ockley, and Vann in Hambledon), or in general to any fen (from fanne, a South East English dialect word for fenne).
Variant spellings of the surname include Van, Vanns, Avann, Fan, and Fann.
[1] The 1881 United Kingdom census found 668 people with the surname Vann, primarily in Leicestershire and Warwickshire.
Data compiled by Patrick Hanks on the basis of the 2011 United Kingdom census and Census of Ireland 2011 found 1,085 people with the surname on the island of Great Britain, and three on the island of Ireland.
In both censuses, slightly more than half of the bearers of the surname Vann identified as non-Hispanic White, and slightly less than one third as non-Hispanic Black or African American.