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Cain

#1,142 in 2025Boys' name

Craftsman

Cain has been given to 7,628 babies in the U.S. since 1910. In 2025 it ranked #1,142 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 330 recorded.

Babies named Cain, 2025

1 in 17,900

Cain over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cain: meaning, origin, and history

Craftsman

Hebrew

What Cain means

Cain means “craftsman”, associated with Káyin.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Hebrew קַיִן (Káyin, “craftsman”), present since Old English.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Cain (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Cain is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Cain comes through Hebrew קַיִן.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Cain is pronounced /keɪn/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,628 boys were recorded with the name Cain between 1910 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 330 in 2014; its best national rank was #727 in 2014.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #893 in 2020 to #1,142 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #743 in 2015 to #1,142 in 2025.

How common is Cain?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 17,900
185 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 9,230
0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,142
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
12,422 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cain sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5003%

Put another way: gather 12,422 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cain. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cains were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cain was born before 2011 — so the typical Cain is around 14 today.

Median birth year
2011
About 14 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
36.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
73.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
7,496
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 36.9% of all recorded uses (2,814).

Is Cain rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−162
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−249
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−399
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.57×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
56.1%
Peak was 2014 (330)
Years since peak
11
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#727
2014

Spellings of Cain

Cain is not the most common spelling — Carl is, with 20.4% against Cain's 0.31%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Cain is used

Across 2016–2025, Cain was most concentrated in Louisiana — about 1 in 3,571 boys, against 1 in 7,086 across all states with data. It was least common in Maryland (1 in 50,000).

228 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Louisiana1 in 3,571
  2. 2Arizona1 in 4,167
  3. 3California1 in 5,000
  4. 4Kansas1 in 5,000
  5. 5Michigan1 in 5,000
  6. 6Ohio1 in 5,263
  7. 7Tennessee1 in 5,263
  8. 8Texas1 in 5,263

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Cain around the world

Where Cain ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,153
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1996–2025
    #441
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1998–2025
    #314
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1991–2025
    #676
    in 2025
  • France
    2004–2025
    #6,278
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #1,281
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1970–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Cain

People whose public names include Cain, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Cain in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Cain. Linked forms have their own page here.

KainCaïm

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Cain by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,142
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 249
Best rank ever
#727
2014
Peak year
2014
330 that year
First recorded
1910
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,628
Count in 2025
185

Names similar to Cain

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CairoZainCaiusKainCaineIainCaioCaiDainCaidenAlainRainBlainDwainAdrainCaisonCainanEfrainCaidynBrainShainLainCainenCaisen

Names with a curve like Cain

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Cain, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AbdullahAndersBransonAmeerMordechaiMustafaYousefYisroelBlazeArianJerichoZavier

Sibling names for Cain

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cain

Top names of 2014, Cain's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2014Boys' names starting with C