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Caine

Masculine · “acquired”

1968high 2008
#2480 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare54 boys in 2025

Caine respells Cain, and Genesis says Eve named him with a pun — she had acquired a man, qanah.

How old is the name Caine?

Caine first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Caine alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 2,100 people named Caine are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Caine most popular?

Caine peaked in 1973, reaching #1238 nationally. Today it ranks #2480, 1,242 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.

Compare this nameMore “C” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Caine

Genesis supplies the etymology in the verse: Eve names Qayin because she has acquired a man. He then commits the first murder. A separate Manx surname Caine descends from Mac Cathán and is unrelated. The Caine spelling appears in American records in current use.

Meaning

acquired, gotten

From the Hebrew Qayin, which Genesis links to qanah, 'to acquire' — Eve says she has gotten a man with the Lord's help. The pun is in the text. A separate Manx surname Caine, from Mac Cathán, exists. The Hebrew is documented.

How the name formed

  1. qanah
  2. Qayin
  3. Cain
  4. Caine

Related forms: Cain · Caine · קין

Pronouncing Caine

KAYN

One syllable. Caine and Cain are homophones; only the spelling differs.

Nicknames for Caine

Moderate

CaiThe front sound, and a name in its own right in Welsh
CThe initial alone, common where a short name wants shortening further
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1968–202589450895419682025

US babies named Caine per year from 1968 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#12381960s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1968
Most boys named
200889 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1238reached in 1973
Change vs 2024
−14.3%54 in 2025, from 63
Caine sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2008, with 89 boys. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.

Caine in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Cain in English — spelling variant
  • Caine in Manx — related form
  • קין in Hebrew — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.

Caines among us

2,100

people named Caine are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 boy in 31,631 born in 2025 was named Caine

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

Spellings of Caine

#2480
Caine on the 2025 chart
#692
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Caine went to 54 boys in 2025, but Kaine, Kayne and Cayne are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 242, which makes it the 692nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,788 places above the chart.

About 1 boy in 7,058 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 31,631 for Caine itself.

Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Apolonio test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Caine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Apolonio climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Apolonio's path sketches the road Caine is walking now.

40%chance Caine will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Caine, aligned on its peakApolonio· peak 1929not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-20 yrs+70 yrsApolonio · #4826Caine today
Caine today is about where Apolonio stood in 1981 — 52 years past a #1237-sized peak. By 1996, Apolonio had settled around #4826.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Caine 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.

A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored

Where Caine is headed

19682030

US babies named Caine per year, 1968 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Caine should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.

Steady0% by 2030projected around #2,591 in 2030

Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.

A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.

Caine beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Caine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Cainethis name54#2480Arya54#2480Kaeson54#2480Demian54#2480Marion54#2480

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That Genesis supplies the pun in the verse is a first-rate fact.
  • The Manx surname route offers a separate and unloaded ancestry.
  • One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced.
What to consider
  • The biblical Cain commits the first murder.
  • It is a homophone of 'cane'.
  • Cain is the standard biblical spelling.

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Caine

Masculine · #2480 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Caines are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Caine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Caine?
Caine is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kaine is the more common one — 126 births in 2025 against 54 for Caine.
How popular is the name Caine in 2025?
Caine ranks #2480 among US boy names in 2025, with 54 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Caine?
About 1 in every 31,631 US boys born in 2025 was named Caine — 54 in all.
Will my child share the name Caine with classmates?
Caine will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Caine

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Arya#2480 · Kaeson#2480 · Demian#2480 · Marion#2480 · Florian#2480 · Niles#2480 · Hardy#2480 · Mace#2480

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caine? See the current top 100.

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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