Canton
Masculine · “a corner”
Canton is a corner. The Old French canton meant a corner or a district, and it went into English twice: as the word for a Swiss administrative region, and as the European name for the Chinese city of Guangzhou, which is where the tea and the porcelain came from.
How old is the name Canton?
Canton first appears in US birth records in 1988 — 37 years ago. The typical Canton is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 500 people named Canton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Canton most popular?
Canton peaked in 2015, reaching #3365 nationally. Today it ranks #5208, 1,843 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
From canton to Canton
The story of Canton
Guangzhou was the only Chinese port open to European trade for most of the eighteenth century, and everything that came out of it was called Canton: Canton porcelain, Cantonese, the Canton system. The name went onto the American map in the ordinary way, with towns in Ohio, Massachusetts, Georgia and elsewhere, several of them named directly for the Chinese city in the years of the China trade. As a given name it is recent and belongs with the wider American use of place names.
Meaning
a corner; a district
Old French canton, a corner or piece of a country, from a root meaning a corner or edge. The Swiss use it for their federal states; European traders applied it to the port city of Guangzhou, and English also uses it in heraldry for a corner of a shield.
How the name formed
- canton
- Canton
Related forms: Canton · 廣州
Pronouncing Canton
KAN-tun
Two syllables, stress in front. There is no other reading in American English.
Nicknames for Canton
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1988
- Most boys named
- 201533 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3365reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- +50.0%18 in 2025, from 12
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.
Canton in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Canton in French — same name
- 廣州 in Chinese — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Florida, Missouri.
Cantons among us
people named Canton are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 94,893 born in 2025 was named Canton
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Karin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Canton's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Karin climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Karin's path sketches the road Canton is walking now.
Canton 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
Canton beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Canton in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The -ton ending puts it among names every teacher can already say.
- It names real places on two continents, both of which can be shown on a map.
- Every sound is ordinary English, so nobody stumbles.
- It is a well-known American town name, so it is often heard as a place first.
- The clipped form Cant is an English word with an unhelpful meaning.
- The -ton family of names is very crowded, so it sounds of its decade.
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What they receive
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Canton
Masculine · #5208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Cantons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Canton are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Canton in 2025?
- Canton ranks #5208 among US boy names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Canton?
- About 1 in every 94,893 US boys born in 2025 was named Canton — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Canton with classmates?
- Canton will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Canton
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rodger#5208 · Eusebio#5208 · Boy#5208 · Randal#5208 · Gable#5208 · Jessy#5208 · Kelby#5208 · Jens#5208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Canton? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Canton and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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