Names/C

Canaan

boys’ nameSteady · modern nameCompare

Canaan is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 199 births. Its best rank was 671st, in 2016.

Rank in 2024
outside the top 1,000
Births in 2024
1990.01% of boys
Peak year
2016385 births
Best rank
#671in 2016
Since 1973
5,947people given the name
Babies named Canaan, by year of birthboys
012525037550018801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

5,629 boys have been named Canaan in the United States since 1973, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2016, with 385 births.

It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 2013, and the 2010s alone account for 42%. It has spent 8 of 145 years in the top 1,000.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 318 girls have also been given it, 5.3% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Canaan
1970s82
1980s217
1990s635
2000s1,257
2010s2,346
2020s1,092

In 2016, its biggest year

Canaan was the 671st most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 2016 were Noah, Liam, William, Mason and James. See all of 2016.

Names that rose and fell with Canaan

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.