Name Awesome

Kan

Boys' name

From Japanese 菅; literal meaning unconfirmed

Kan has been given to 6 babies in the U.S. since 2004. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2004, with 6 recorded.

Babies named Kan, 2004

1 in 637,000

Kan over time, 1880–2025

Boys
024618801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kan: meaning, origin, and history

From Japanese 菅; literal meaning unconfirmed

Japanese

What Kan means

Kan is a given name.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Borrowed from Japanese 菅 (Kan) or かん (Kan).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Kan is used in English. Its origins include Japanese.

Kan comes through Japanese 菅.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6 boys were recorded with the name Kan between 2004 and 2004. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2004; its best national rank was #10,662 in 2004.

How common is Kan?

Kan had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2004, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2004
1 in 637,000
6 of 3,820,181 births
Among boys only
1 in 331,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2004
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
441,326 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kan 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 2004 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 441,326 children born in 2004 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kan was born before 2004 — so the typical Kan is around 21 today.

Median birth year
2004
About 21 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (6).

Is Kan 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2004 (6)
Years since peak
21
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Not enough data
Too few years
Best rank ever
#10,662
2004

Kan by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#10,662
2004
Peak year
2004
6 that year
First recorded
2004
Last recorded
2004
All-time count
6
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kan

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

KanjiKandyKanekKanaAkanKanaluKanoahKanynKandynKananiKandiaKaneilKanyanKanataKannynOkanKangMakanVukanKanyaErkanLykanKaneloKano

Sibling names for Kan

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 Kan

Top names of 2004, Kan's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 2004Boys' names starting with K