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Cainan

#3,525 in 2025Boys' name

Variant of Kenan

Cainan has been given to 1,024 babies in the U.S. since 1981. In 2025 it ranked #3,525 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 47 recorded.

Babies named Cainan, 2025

1 in 104,000

Cainan over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cainan: meaning, origin, and history

Variant of Kenan

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cainan means

Cainan is a variant of Kenan.

Meaning behind the documented name family

Cainan is a variant of Kenan. Kenan has more than one origin or interpretation.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kenan.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,024 boys were recorded with the name Cainan between 1981 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 47 in 2016; its best national rank was #2,631 in 2016.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,830 in 2020 to #3,525 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #3,032 in 2015 to #3,525 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Cainan?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 104,000
32 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 53,400
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,525
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
71,810 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cainan 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 71,810 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cainan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cainans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cainan was born before 2010 — so the typical Cainan is around 15 today.

Median birth year
2010
About 15 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
33.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
78.8%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,024
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 33.0% of all recorded uses (338).

Is Cainan 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
−247
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+305
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−493
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.84×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
68.1%
Peak was 2016 (47)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,631
2016

Spellings of Cainan

Cainan is not the most common spelling — Aidan is, with 56.1% against Cainan's 0.49%.

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 Cainan is used

Across 1910–2025, Cainan was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,388,575 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Indiana1 in —
  3. 3Kentucky1 in —
  4. 4Ohio1 in —
  5. 5Texas1 in —

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. Cainan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Cainan around the world

Where Cainan 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
    1997–2024
    #5,120
    in 2024
  • Canada
    2014–2019
    #2,084
    in 2019
  • South Australia
    2000–2000
    #556
    in 2000

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Cainan by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,525
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 305
Best rank ever
#2,631
2016
Peak year
2016
47 that year
First recorded
1981
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,024
Count in 2025
32

Names similar to Cainan

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

CaisonCaidynCainenCaisenCaidanKainanCailenKennanCaineCaiusCaisynCaioFinnanTynanKannanTiernanKiernanCannanKananCaiKaynanBrenanCailebCaidon

Sibling names for Cainan

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 Cainan

Top names of 2016, Cainan's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2016Boys' names starting with C