Canaan Boy
How popular is Canaan?
#1,044 boy name in 2025
212 baby boys were named Canaan in the US in 2025, making it the 1044th most popular boy name. Another 6 girls got the name (#13,204 for girls).
Canaan popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #1,044 for boys (▲ 38 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 212 boys, 6 girls |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-26% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #806 in 2015, #950 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2016 (385 boys) |
| Highest rank | #669 in 2016 |
| First recorded | 1973 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 98% boys, 2% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.2% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Canaan counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Canaan family of names ranked #851 for boys in 2025 (#838 the year before), with 261 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Canaan | 212 | 81% |
| Kanaan | 49 | 19% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Canaan is most popular
Babies named Canaan per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Tennessee: 0.4 per 1,000 (72 boys)
- Kentucky: 0.4 per 1,000 (39 boys)
- Alabama: 0.4 per 1,000 (41 boys)
- Mississippi: 0.4 per 1,000 (20 boys)
- Arkansas: 0.3 per 1,000 (21 boys)
Canaan by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 82 | #2,361 |
| 1980s | 217 | #1,686 |
| 1990s | 635 | #1,298 |
| 2000s | 1,257 | #1,091 |
| 2010s | 2,346 | #669 |
| 2020s | 1,306 | #950 |
Boy names about as popular as Canaan
Questions
- Is Canaan a boy or girl name?
- Canaan is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 98% of babies named Canaan were boys.
- How popular is the name Canaan?
- 212 baby boys were named Canaan in the US in 2025, making it the 1044th most popular boy name. Another 6 girls got the name (#13,204 for girls).
- When was Canaan most popular?
- Canaan peaked in 2016, when 385 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #669 in 2016.
- How many people are named Canaan?
- 6,167 babies have been named Canaan in the US since 1880. We estimate about 6,088 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 12.
- Where is Canaan most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Canaan was most common in Tennessee, at 0.4 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.