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Cannon

#722 in 2025Boys' name

Church-related surname; also the cannon word

Cannon has been given to 11,207 babies in the U.S. since 1904. In 2025 it ranked #722 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 581 recorded.

Babies named Cannon, 2025

1 in 8,860

Cannon over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cannon: meaning, origin, and history

Church-related surname; also the cannon word

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cannon means

Cannon has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Cannon

Cannon has a surname route connected with Middle English canon, referring to a church official or someone serving a clergy house. The editorial entry also records possible use through the English word for the large gun. The Italian and Latin tube or reed vocabulary belongs to that weapon word’s history, rather than translating both naming routes into one compound. Kannon is a recorded variant.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,978 boys were recorded with the name Cannon between 1904 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 581 in 2021; its best national rank was #506 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #542 in 2020 to #722 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #585 in 2015 to #722 in 2025.

In the United States, 229 girls were recorded with the name Cannon between 1993 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 17 in 2016; its best national rank was #6,962 in 2016.

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 Cannon?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 8,860
374 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 4,570
0.02% of boys
Rank, 2025
#722
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
6,145 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cannon 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 1001%
School of 5005%

Put another way: gather 6,145 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cannon. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cannons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cannon was born before 2014 — so the typical Cannon is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
45.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
90.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
10,925
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 45.5% of all recorded uses (4,994).

Is Cannon 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
+41
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−180
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−137
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.79×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
64.4%
Peak was 2021 (581)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
9.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#506
2021

Spellings of Cannon

Cannon is not the most common spelling — Connor is, with 31.7% against Cannon's 1.5%.

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 Cannon is used

Across 2016–2025, Cannon was most concentrated in Mississippi — about 1 in 1,099 boys, against 1 in 3,252 across all states with data. It was least common in Minnesota (1 in 25,000).

491 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Mississippi1 in 1,099
  2. 2Arkansas1 in 1,449
  3. 3Louisiana1 in 1,449
  4. 4Oklahoma1 in 1,471
  5. 5Tennessee1 in 1,471
  6. 6Idaho1 in 1,667
  7. 7Alabama1 in 1,724
  8. 8South Carolina1 in 1,724

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.

Geographically, Cannon is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 66% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Cannon around the world

Where Cannon 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.

  • Canada
    2007–2024
    #2,855
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2007–2007
    #680
    in 2007

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Cannon by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#722
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 180
Best rank ever
#506
2021
Peak year
2021
581 that year
First recorded
1904
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,978
Count in 2025
374

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,962
2016
Peak year
2016
17 that year
First recorded
1993
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
229
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Cannon

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

CanonCanaanCanyonLennonGannonKannonCandidoBrannonBrennonCantonKennonShannonCannanVernonKanonCaneloZenonShanonCandelarioCaneCandenCanCannenCandon

Names with a curve like Cannon

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

ArjunDeaconBostonCaseSincereKasenNikolaiRylandKylanKamdenSorenAlijah

Sibling names for Cannon

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 Cannon

Top names of 2021, Cannon's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Boys' names starting with C