Canon
#2,211 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Canon has been given to 2,792 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #2,211 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2019, with 129 recorded.
Babies named Canon, 2025
1 in 51,800
Canon over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Canon?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 51,800
- 64 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 26,700
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #2,211
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 35,906 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Canon sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 35,906 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Canon. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Canons were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Canon was born before 2012 — so the typical Canon is around 13 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 40.1% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 88.0%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 2,751
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 40.1% of all recorded uses (1,104).
Is Canon 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
- −288
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- −720
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −443
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.74×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 49.6%
- Peak was 2019 (129)
- Years since peak
- 6
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Shifting
- 13.0% average annual change
Spellings of Canon
Canon is not the most common spelling — Jason is, with 34.5% against Canon's 0.09%.
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 Canon is used
Across 2016–2025, Canon was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in 10,000 boys, against 1 in 19,330 across all states with data. It was least common in Washington (1 in 100,000).
Most concentrated
- 1Georgia1 in 10,000
- 2Arkansas1 in 12,500
- 3Texas1 in 12,500
- 4California1 in 20,000
- 5Louisiana1 in 20,000
- 6North Carolina1 in 20,000
- 7Alabama1 in 25,000
- 8Tennessee1 in 25,000
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.
Canon around the world
Where Canon 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 & Wales2018–2018#4,749in 2018
- Canada2019–2022#2,959in 2022
- South Australia2010–2010#754in 2010
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.
Canon by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a boy's name
Names similar to Canon
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Names with a curve like Canon
Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Canon, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.
Sibling names for Canon
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.