Head to head · Boys' names
Cannon vs Neithan
#721 vs #723 in 2025
Cannon is a whisker ahead (#721 vs #723 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Cannon is stepping back from its peak, Neithan is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Neithan has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Cannon leads 5 measures of 6; Neithan leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1900s: Cannon #1064, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1910s: Cannon #3787, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1920s: Cannon #3786, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1940s: Cannon #3525, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1950s: Cannon #3223, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1960s: Cannon #3573, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1970s: Cannon #3211, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1980s: Cannon #3571, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 1990s: Cannon #1999, Neithan — — Cannon higher
- 2000s: Cannon #866, Neithan #10043 — Cannon higher
- 2010s: Cannon #546, Neithan #5567 — Cannon higher
- 2020s: Cannon #629, Neithan #2397 — Cannon higher
Cannon stood higher in every recorded decade — 12 of 12.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Cannon | Neithan |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | #1064 | — |
| 1910s | #3787 | — |
| 1920s | #3786 | — |
| 1940s | #3525 | — |
| 1950s | #3223 | — |
| 1960s | #3573 | — |
| 1970s | #3211 | — |
| 1980s | #3571 | — |
| 1990s | #1999 | — |
| 2000s | #866 | #10043 |
| 2010s | #546 | #5567 |
| 2020s | #629 | #2397 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Cannon
From the medieval English word for a cathedral canon, a clergyman; or an anglicized Irish family name
The English surname comes from Anglo-Norman and Middle English 'canoun', a member of a cathedral chapter — used for the clergyman himself or for someone in his household's service. The Irish surname Cannon is an anglicization of Ó Canáin and related Gaelic names, and its own root is separately debated. Both roads end at the same English spelling, so a bearer today cannot be sorted into one or the other. The artillery word is unrelated in origin: it descends from Latin 'canna', a reed or tube.
Latin canonicus → Anglo-Norman canoun → English surname Cannon → Cannon (given name)
How it traveled
For most of its life this was a surname, not a first name. In medieval England it attached to men connected with cathedral canons — the clergy who lived under canon law and staffed the great churches — and in Ireland it emerged separately when clerks wrote Gaelic names such as Ó Canáin in English letters.
Neithan
"he gave" or "given" — from Nathan
Read as a spelling of Nathan, it carries the Hebrew root natan, "he gave" — the sense behind the older name Nathaniel, "gift of God." That is the route almost certainly behind its American use. Separately, and unrelated to that history, Tolkien used Neithan in The Silmarillion as a Sindarin byname for T drin, glossed "the Wronged" — a coincidence of spelling rather than an ancestry.
Natan → Nathan (Greek and Latin scripture) → Nathan (English) → Neithan
How it traveled
The parent name is old and well documented: Natan appears in the Hebrew Bible, and through Greek and Latin scripture it reached English as Nathan, where it has been in steady use since the Protestant Reformation put biblical names into everyday circulation. Neithan is a modern American respelling of that name, and its geography tells you how it happened — it is strongest in the states where Spanish orthography sits alongside English, and in Spanish spelling the letters "ei" give the same NAY sound the English name already had.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Cannon
KAN-un
Stress on the first syllable, exactly like the artillery word. Identical in speech to 'canon' with one n, which is where most written mistakes come from.
- Cann — The only short form in any real use, and mostly informal and family-internal; it does not stand alone as a given name.
- Canny — Heard occasionally as a playground or teammate nickname rather than anything settled.
Neithan
NAY-thun
Two letters do the work: "ei" is read as the long A sound, so it sounds like Nathan. In Spanish-speaking families you will also hear NAY-tan, with a plain t and no English "th." Some readers meeting it cold will try NEE-than, so expect to correct that once in a while.
- Nate — The long-established short form of Nathan; used informally and also given as a standalone name in the US.
- Nathy — Informal, family-level; more common where the name is used in Spanish-speaking households.
- Neith — A spelling-specific clipping that only works with this form of the name; informal.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Cannon if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsCannon is stepping back from its peak
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 65% for Neithan
Choose Neithan if you want…
- a name on the way upup 2,839 places on the charts in five years
- a name that feels very nowNeithan is climbing the charts fast
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Cannon
Strengths
- Every English speaker can read it aloud on sight — one settled pronunciation, no variants to correct.
- Sits inside a pattern Americans already know well: a surname used as a boy's first name, alongside Carson, Mason and Hudson.
- Has been documented on US records far longer than its recent surge of babies suggests, so it is not a new coinage.
To consider
- The homograph is unavoidable: in American English, 'cannon' is first of all a piece of artillery. Most people take that in stride, but the association arrives before any medieval clergyman does.
- Expect the one-n spelling. 'Canon' turns up in canon law, literary canon and a camera brand, so a lifetime of gentle corrections is likely.
- Its wave is very recent, so nearly everyone who carries it is still a child. Among adults it reads as a distinctly modern American choice.
Neithan
Strengths
- Sounds exactly like Nathan, a name every English speaker already knows, so it never needs explaining out loud only on paper.
- Inherits a ready-made short form in Nate, which has stood on its own for generations.
- The underlying name has an unbroken record from biblical Hebrew through Greek and Latin into modern English.
To consider
- Nathan is the default spelling in most people's minds, so Neithan will be corrected and re-typed for life on forms, on class lists, in email addresses. Worth deciding now whether that trade is one you are happy to make.
- The "ei" invites the guess NEE-than from people who have never seen it written. Not a hard fix, but a lifelong small one.
- Almost all bearers are children, so there are no adult Neithans yet to show how the spelling wears over a career. The sound, at least, has a very long track record.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Cannon
40%chance Cannon feels dated by 2040
Cannon sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Neithan
65%chance Neithan feels dated by 2040
Neithan is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Cannon and Neithan in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
Where Cannon and Neithan each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Cannon or Neithan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Cannon or Neithan?
- Cannon, in 2025: Cannon ranked #721 with 374 babies; Neithan ranked #723 with 371 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Cannon or Neithan?
- Neithan. Over the last five years Cannon moved down 179 places; Neithan moved up 2,839 places.
- Which is the older name, Cannon or Neithan?
- Cannon entered the US charts in 1904; Neithan entered the US charts in 2003. On the American record, Cannon is the older name.
- How many people are named Cannon and Neithan?
- About 11,000 people named Cannon are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 900 people named Neithan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Cannons or Neithans in the classroom?
- Cannon will almost certainly be the only one in school. Neithan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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