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Kanak

#16,066 in 2025Girls' name

Possibly gold, through कनक

Kanak has been given to 10 babies in the U.S. since 2020. In 2025 it ranked #16,066 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2020, with 5 recorded.

Babies named Kanak, 2025

1 in 663,000

Kanak over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kanak: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly gold, through कनक

Sanskrit

What Kanak means

Kanak belongs to the name family reached through Kanak → कनक. Its meaning is “gold”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kanak is used in English. Its origins include Sanskrit.

Kanak comes through Sanskrit कनक.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include कनक.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Kanak is pronounced /kəˈnæk/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Kanak between 2020 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 5 in 2020; its best national rank was #16,066 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #16,270 in 2020 to #16,066 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Kanak?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 321,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#16,066
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kanak 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 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kanak. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kanaks were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kanak was born before 2020 — so the typical Kanak is around 5 today.

Median birth year
2020
About 5 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
100.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
10
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 100.0% of all recorded uses (10).

Is Kanak 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
+204
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2020 (5)
Years since peak
5
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Not enough data
Too few years
Best rank ever
#16,066
2025

Spellings of Kanak

Kanak is not the most common spelling — Dana is, with 26.7% against Kanak'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.

Kanak around the world

Where Kanak 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
    2024–2024
    #5,892
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0.

Kanak by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#16,066
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 204
Best rank ever
#16,066
2025
Peak year
2020
5 that year
First recorded
2020
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Kanak

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

KanovaKanzKananKanoaKanviKanairiKanaryKaneaKanahKanoiKanzaKanamiKanarieRonakKanyeKaniraKandeKandiaKanisaKanicaKanyKandleKandysKanyen

Sibling names for Kanak

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 Kanak

Top names of 2020, Kanak's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Girls' names starting with K