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Kana

#8,607 in 2025Girls' name

Good, auspicious, beautiful or fragrant

Kana has been given to 890 babies in the U.S. since 1956. In 2025 it ranked #8,607 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2006, with 27 recorded.

Babies named Kana, 2025

1 in 276,000

Kana over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kana: meaning, origin, and history

Good, auspicious, beautiful or fragrant

Japanese

What Kana means

Kana means “good, auspicious, beautiful or fragrant”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kana is used in English. Its origins include Japanese.

Kana comes through Japanese 香菜.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 872 girls were recorded with the name Kana between 1956 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 27 in 2006; its best national rank was #4,271 in 1995.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #5,087 in 2020 to #8,607 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,790 in 2015 to #8,607 in 2025.

In the United States, 18 boys were recorded with the name Kana between 2005 and 2011. Its highest annual count was 6 in 2005; its best national rank was #10,783 in 2005.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kana?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 276,000
12 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 134,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#8,607
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
191,493 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kana sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

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 191,493 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kana. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kanas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kana was born before 2001 — so the typical Kana is around 24 today.

Median birth year
2001
About 24 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
24.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
51.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
872
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 24.7% of all recorded uses (215).

Is Kana 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
−2,332
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−3,520
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,183
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.09×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
44.4%
Peak was 2006 (27)
Years since peak
19
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,271
1995

Spellings of Kana

Kana is not the most common spelling — Anna is, with 10.9% against Kana's 0.01%.

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 Kana is used

Across 1910–2025, Kana was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 334,580 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 100,000
  2. 2Illinois1 in —
  3. 3New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Kana has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kana around the world

Where Kana 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
    1997–2017
    #5,765
    in 2017
  • France
    2017–2017
    #5,488
    in 2017
  • Canada
    2003–2022
    #3,322
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    2008–2008
    #796
    in 2008

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

Kana by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#8,607
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 3,520
Best rank ever
#4,271
1995
Peak year
2006
27 that year
First recorded
1956
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
872
Count in 2025
12

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#10,783
2005
Peak year
2005
6 that year
First recorded
2005
Last recorded
2011
All-time count
18
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kana

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

KaniIanaManaCanaKananiVanaKansasKanikaKannaKaniahVianaLyanaZyanaZanaMoanaMianaEvanaKanylaNanaKaniaYanaSianaKanyaZiana

Sibling names for Kana

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 Kana

Top names of 2006, Kana's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1995Girls' names starting with KJapanese Names