# Canaan (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/canaan/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Hebrew |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | /ˈkeɪnən/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Chanaan, Caanan |
| US babies named this | 6,167 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 5,843 / 324 (5% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 95, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Taken (at least as early as Wycliffe's Bible, 1382-1395, which has Chanaan) from Ecclesiastical Latin Chanaān, from Ancient Greek Χαναάν (Khanaán), expanded from Χνᾶ (Khnâ), from Biblical Hebrew כְּנַעַן (kanáʕan). The first vowel shifted from /aː/ to /eɪ/ in the Great Vowel Shift; at least as early as Milton (1660s), the word could already be pronounced with two syllables, though at least as late as the 1880s it could also be pronounced with three, /ˈkeɪ.nə.æn/.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 11 | 10,216 |
| 2009 | 16 | 7,750 |
| 2010 | 19 | 6,701 |
| 2011 | 6 | 15,198 |
| 2012 | 14 | 8,301 |
| 2013 | 7 | 13,446 |
| 2014 | 12 | 9,093 |
| 2015 | 13 | 8,556 |
| 2017 | 7 | 12,982 |
| 2018 | 16 | 7,169 |
| 2019 | 9 | 10,637 |
| 2021 | 7 | 12,463 |
| 2022 | 5 | 15,759 |
| 2023 | 10 | 9,751 |
| 2025 | 6 | 13,520 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 159 | 1,137 |
| 2012 | 172 | 1,085 |
| 2013 | 149 | 1,205 |
| 2014 | 180 | 1,074 |
| 2015 | 285 | 806 |
| 2016 | 385 | 671 |
| 2017 | 318 | 745 |
| 2018 | 270 | 828 |
| 2019 | 265 | 846 |
| 2020 | 231 | 950 |
| 2021 | 236 | 954 |
| 2022 | 236 | 960 |
| 2023 | 190 | 1,112 |
| 2024 | 201 | 1,082 |
| 2025 | 212 | 1,044 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 3 | 3,225 |
| 2006 | 7 | 2,282 |
| 2007 | 3 | 4,333 |
| 2008 | 4 | 3,687 |
| 2009 | 5 | 3,227 |
| 2010 | 3 | 4,678 |
| 2011 | 6 | 2,892 |
| 2014 | 6 | 2,964 |
| 2016 | 6 | 3,079 |
| 2017 | 5 | 3,449 |
| 2018 | 5 | 3,412 |
| 2019 | 5 | 3,411 |
| 2020 | 5 | 3,334 |
| 2021 | 3 | 4,789 |
| 2023 | 7 | 2,813 |

## People named Canaan

- Canaan Banana, 1st President of Zimbabwe (1936-2003)

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.