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Kanaan

Masculine

1990high 2018
#2641 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare49 boys in 2025

Canaan is the land promised in Genesis, and the name may come from a word for purple dye — the Phoenicians' trade.

How old is the name Kanaan?

Kanaan first appears in US birth records in 1990 — 35 years ago. The typical Kanaan is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,200 people named Kanaan are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Kanaan most popular?

Kanaan peaked in 2018, reaching #1762 nationally. Today it ranks #2641, 879 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.

Compare this nameMore “K” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Kanaan

Canaan names both a land and, in Genesis, a person — Ham's son, cursed in a passage that has been put to appalling use. One proposal derives the name from purple dye, which would make Canaan and Phoenicia the same idea in two languages, since phoinix is Greek for purple. Kanaan appears in American records in current use.

Meaningscholars disagree

Not established

The name's origin is disputed. Proposals include a Semitic root meaning 'to be low' or 'to bend', and a connection to a word for purple or reddish dye — the Phoenician export. Genesis makes Canaan a grandson of Noah. Nothing is settled.

How the name formed

  1. Kena'an
  2. Canaan
  3. Kanaan

Related forms: כנען · Canaan · Kan'an

Pronouncing Kanaan

KAY-nun

Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew Kena'an is ke-NA-an.

Nicknames for Kanaan

Moderate

KaneA loose front form, and a name in its own right with a real record
NaanThe back of the name, which collides with a bread
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

BOYS NAMED · 1990–202587440874919902025

US babies named Kanaan per year from 1990 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#17621990s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1990
Most boys named
201887 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1762reached in 2018
Change vs 2024
−25.8%49 in 2025, from 66
Kanaan sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 2018, with 87 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.

Kanaan in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • כנען in Hebrew — transliteration
  • Canaan in English — spelling variant
  • Kan'an in Arabic — related form

Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, North Carolina.

Kanaans among us

1,200

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

About 1 boy in 34,859 born in 2025 was named Kanaan

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

Spellings of Kanaan

#2641
Kanaan on the 2025 chart
#515
counting every spelling

The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kanaan went to 49 boys in 2025, but Canaan, Kanan and Kannan and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 7 spellings went to 489, which makes it the 515th most-given boys’ name of the year — 2,126 places above the chart.

About 1 boy in 3,493 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 34,859 for Kanaan 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 Ky test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kanaan's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Ky climbed just as high around 1987, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Ky's path sketches the road Kanaan is walking now.

40%chance Kanaan will feel “very 2020s” by 2040
Kanaan, aligned on its peakKy· peak 1987not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-30 yrs+40 yrsKy · #3711Kanaan today
Kanaan today is about where Ky stood in 1994 — 7 years past a #1760-sized peak. By 2009, Ky had settled around #3662.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Kanaan 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 Kanaan is headed

19902030

US babies named Kanaan per year, 1990 to 2025, with a projection to 2030

Kanaan should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.

Steady-12% by 2030projected around #2,999 in 2030

Low 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.

Kanaan beside its neighbors

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

Kanaanthis name49#2641Keylor49#2641Ely49#2641Daelyn49#2641Judge49#2641

US boys given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • That Canaan and Phoenicia may both mean 'purple' is a first-rate possibility.
  • The land is one of the most-named places in the Bible.
  • Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
What to consider
  • The Genesis passage about Canaan has a very ugly history of misuse.
  • Canaan is the standard English spelling.
  • The etymology is genuinely unsettled.

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Kanaan

Masculine · #2641 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Kanaans are there in the world?
No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Kanaan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How do you spell Kanaan?
Kanaan is one of 7 recorded spellings. Canaan is the more common one — 212 births in 2025 against 49 for Kanaan.
How popular is the name Kanaan in 2025?
Kanaan ranks #2641 among US boy names in 2025, with 49 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Kanaan?
About 1 in every 34,859 US boys born in 2025 was named Kanaan — 49 in all.
Will my child share the name Kanaan with classmates?
Kanaan will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Kanaan

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Keylor#2641 · Ely#2641 · Daelyn#2641 · Judge#2641 · Kato#2641 · Herbert#2641 · Giacomo#2641 · Kaycee#2641

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

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

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