Cane
A masculine name derived from the Latin word "canna", meaning reed or cane.
Name Census estimates that about 328 living Americans carry the first name Cane. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cane today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cane births was 2022 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cane. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Cane with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
328
~ 1 in 1,044,983 Americans
Peak year
2022
27 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,502
Tracked since 1995
Census
Cane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 523 people with the first name Cane, which placed it at #19,947 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,947
National first-name rank
People counted
523
523 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cane is White at 64.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Black (10.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cane described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.1% · 335
- Hispanic or Latino14.9% · 78
- Black or African American10.3% · 54
- Two or more races4.8% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 13
Popularity
Cane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cane from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 132 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Cane remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cane by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Canes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Cane
The name Cane is of Latin origin, derived from the word "canna," which means "reed" or "cane." It is believed to have originated during the Roman era, possibly as a surname or nickname given to individuals who worked with reeds or lived near areas abundant with cane plants.
In ancient Rome, the name Cane may have been associated with the god Priapus, who was often depicted carrying a staff or cane made of reed. This connection could have contributed to the popularity of the name among Roman families.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cane can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy, who mentioned a Roman soldier named Gaius Cane during his account of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC).
During the Middle Ages, the name Cane gained some popularity in certain regions of Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain. It was often used as a diminutive form of the name Canasius or Canetius, which were derived from the Latin word "canna."
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Cane della Scala (1291-1329) ruled as the Lord of Verona, Italy. He was a prominent member of the Della Scala family and played a significant role in the political and cultural affairs of his time.
Another historical figure bearing the name Cane was Cane Gusmano (1439-1503), an Italian jurist and legal scholar from Bologna. He was known for his contributions to the study of Roman law and authored several influential works on the subject.
In the realm of literature, the name Cane is associated with the Italian poet and writer Guido Cane (1824-1914), who was born in Piedmont. He is best known for his collection of poetic works titled "Poesie" (1886), which explored themes of nature and human emotions.
During the Renaissance period, the name Cane was occasionally used in artistic circles. One notable example is Cane da Pesaro (1459-1528), an Italian painter and architect from the Marche region, who was renowned for his frescoes and architectural designs.
While the name Cane has roots in ancient Roman culture, it has been adopted and used across various European regions over the centuries, appearing in historical records, literary works, and among notable figures from different eras.
People
Cane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cane as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 328 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cane going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,044,983 US residents.
Is Cane a common name?
We classify Cane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 331 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cane most popular?
The single biggest year for Cane was 2022, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cane is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 523 people with the name Cane, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,947 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cane in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cane leans strongly male. 511 people counted with this name were male (97.1%), compared with 15 female bearers (2.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cane is White at 64.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (14.9%) and Black (10.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cane most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.1% (335 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cane a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cane in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cane in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cane can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Cane?
Find out how many people have the name Cane on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.