Kannon
Masculine
Kannon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,040 boys against 141 girls since 1880.
Kannon is the American surname-name Cannon written with a K, and Cannon itself has been a family name in Ireland and England for centuries. It lands squarely in the two-syllable, -on shape that has carried so many boys' names of the last few decades, and it says itself on first hearing. The same romanized spelling belongs, quite separately, to Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion in Japanese Buddhism.
How old is the name Kannon?
Kannon first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Kannon is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 6,000 people named Kannon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kannon most popular?
Kannon peaked in 2020, reaching #537 nationally. Today it ranks #903, 366 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From kanōn (Greek: rule, measuring rod) to Kannon
The story of Kannon
Cannon arrived as a surname by several routes: from the ecclesiastical title canon, borne by clergy attached to a cathedral, and from Irish families whose names were anglicized as Cannon and McCann. In the United States, surnames of this kind have been moving into first-name position for well over a century, and Kannon is that move plus the K-for-C respelling that reshaped a whole shelf of boys' names in recent generations. Its American use is genuinely recent and clusters in the South. A separate and much older Kannon exists in Japan: 観音, the bodhisattva of compassion known in Chinese as Guanyin, whose name has nothing historically to do with the English surname but shares the romanization exactly.
Meaningscholars disagree
Read through the surname Cannon: either a cathedral canon or an Irish family name
The surname Cannon has more than one documented source. One is the church office of canon, from Greek kanōn, a measuring rod and so a rule or standard. Another is the anglicized Irish Ó Canáin and Mac Canann. The modern weapon sense of cannon comes from a different word entirely, Italian cannone, a large tube. Which root sits behind any given family is a question of that family's line, not of the name in general.
How the name formed
- kanōnGreek: rule, measuring rod
- canonicusLatin
- canonMiddle English
- Cannonsurname
- Kannon
Related forms: Cannon · Canon · Ó Canáin · McCann
Pronouncing Kannon
KAN-un
Two syllables, stress on the first, identical to the word cannon. Almost no one hesitates over saying it; the hesitation is over spelling it.
Nicknames for Kannon
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
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 2020526 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #537reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- +15.4%263 in 2025, from 228
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.
Kannon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cannon in English — spelling variant
- Canon in English — spelling variant
- Ó Canáin in Irish — related form
- McCann in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Georgia.
Kannons among us
people named Kannon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,495 born in 2025 was named Kannon
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kannon
- #903
- Kannon on the 2025 chart
- #404
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kannon went to 263 boys in 2025, but Cannon, Canon and Kanon are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 730, which makes it the 404th most-given boys’ name of the year — 499 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 2,340 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 6,495 for Kannon 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
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Edison test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kannon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Edison climbed just as high around 1917, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Edison's path sketches the road Kannon is walking now.
Kannon 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 Kannon is headed
Kannon is easing off slowly — about 28% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
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.
Kannon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kannon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Pronounced correctly on first sight by nearly everyone, because the sound already exists as a common English word.
- Sits in the familiar -on pattern shared by many current boys' names, so it fits comfortably on a class list without matching anyone.
- Backed by a real surname with a documented history in Ireland and England, not a coinage.
- Short, stress-first, and easy to call across a field or a parking lot.
- The K spelling will need repeating. Most people's default is Cannon with a C, and a fair number will write Canon, so expect a lifetime of spelling it out on forms and coffee cups.
- The word association is with artillery, and children notice that early. It tends to arrive as a joke rather than an insult, but it does arrive.
- He is unlikely to meet another one. That means the name stays his, and also that it will be new to most people he introduces himself to.
- The name's rise in the US is recent enough that there are few adults carrying it — an advantage if you want it unattached to any particular generation, less so if you want a name people already picture on a grown man.
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What they receive
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Kannon
Masculine · #903 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kannons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,000 people named Kannon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kannon?
- Kannon is one of 4 recorded spellings. Cannon is the more common one — 374 births in 2025 against 263 for Kannon.
- How popular is the name Kannon in 2025?
- Kannon ranks #903 among US boy names in 2025, with 263 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kannon?
- About 1 in every 6,495 US boys born in 2025 was named Kannon — 263 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kannon with classmates?
- Kannon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kannon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kael#903 · Nael#903 · Foster#901 · Guillermo#901 · Scottie#906 · Jerry#906 · Rey#906 · Axton#906
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kannon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kannon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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