How common is the surname Kannan?

1,553 people in the United States had the surname Kannan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 198,806 Americans. It ranked 17,980th of 162,253 surnames.

Is the surname Kannan getting more or less common?

More common. 717 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,553 in 2010, up 117%.

Is Kannan also a first name?

Yes. Kannan is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Kannan

A patronymic surname, carried by 1,553 people in the United States.

2 syllables Soundex K550

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Kannan is more common than 88.9% of them.

Origin

Transliteration of Tamil கண்ணன் (kaṇṇaṉ) and Malayalam കണ്ണൻ (kaṇṇaṉ).

Kannan is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 1,553 people named Kannan in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 198,806 Americans. That is up 117% since 2000, when the Census counted 717.

#17,980

rank among US surnames

1,553

people in 2010

0.5

per 100,000 Americans

+116.6%

change since 2000 (was #30,682)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#17,975	Archila	1,554	198,678
#17,980	Plath	1,553	198,806

Who is named Kannan

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

90% of people named Kannan identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 7.9% as white (not Hispanic) and 1.5% as two or more races.

Asian and Pacific Islander 90%
White (not Hispanic) 7.9%
Two or more races 1.5%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 0.4%
Black (not Hispanic) 0.3%

Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Kannan

Kannan has the Soundex code K550, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code K550.

Questions

Where does the surname Kannan come from?: Transliteration of Tamil கண்ணன் (kaṇṇaṉ) and Malayalam കണ്ണൻ (kaṇṇaṉ).
How common is the surname Kannan?: 1,553 people in the United States had the surname Kannan in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 198,806 Americans. It ranked 17,980th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Kannan?: In the 2010 Census, 90% of people named Kannan identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 7.9% as white (not Hispanic).
What type of surname is Kannan?: Kannan is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
Is the surname Kannan getting more or less common?: More common. 717 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 1,553 in 2010, up 117%.
Is Kannan also a first name?: Yes. Kannan is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.