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Kannan

#5,497 in 2025Boys' name

Black, through கண்ணன்

Kannan has been given to 345 babies in the U.S. since 1998. In 2025 it ranked #5,497 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2018, with 26 recorded.

Babies named Kannan, 2025

1 in 195,000

Kannan over time, 1880–2025

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kannan: meaning, origin, and history

Black, through கண்ணன்

Malayalam and Tamil

What Kannan means

Kannan belongs to the name family reached through Kannan → கண்ணன் → कृष्ण. Its meaning is “black”.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

Transliteration of Tamil கண்ணன் (kaṇṇaṉ) and Malayalam കണ്ണൻ (kaṇṇaṉ).

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

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Kannan is used in English. Its origins include Malayalam and Tamil.

Kannan comes through Tamil கண்ணன் and Malayalam കണ്ണൻ.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include கண, கண்ணன் and कृष्ण.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 345 boys were recorded with the name Kannan between 1998 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 26 in 2018; its best national rank was #4,050 in 2018.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,570 in 2020 to #5,497 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,869 in 2015 to #5,497 in 2025.

How common is Kannan?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 195,000
17 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 100,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,497
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
135,172 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kannan 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 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 135,172 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kannan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kannans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kannan was born before 2017 — so the typical Kannan is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
42.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
93.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
345
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 42.6% of all recorded uses (147).

Is Kannan 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
+1,140
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+73
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+372
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.13×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
65.4%
Peak was 2018 (26)
Years since peak
7
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,050
2018

Spellings of Kannan

Kannan is not the most common spelling — Keenan is, with 19.5% against Kannan's 0.37%.

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 Kannan is used

Across 1910–2025, Kannan was most concentrated in Georgia — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 968,148 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Georgia1 in —

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. Kannan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kannan around the world

Where Kannan 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
    2007–2007
    #3,589
    in 2007
  • South Australia
    1984–1984
    #455
    in 1984

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kannan by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,497
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 73
Best rank ever
#4,050
2018
Peak year
2018
26 that year
First recorded
1998
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
345
Count in 2025
17

Names similar to Kannan

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

KananKannenKanaiKanaanKansasFinnanKanenKanyonKanishkKanavCannanKaynanKanekiKanoaKanaloaKeinanKandenKandonKanoKaneloKanielFinanKaenanKinan

Sibling names for Kannan

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 Kannan

Top names of 2018, Kannan's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2018Boys' names starting with KTamil Boy NamesTamil Names