Canton
A place name originally referring to a corner or section of land.
Name Census estimates that about 515 living Americans carry the first name Canton. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Canton today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Canton births was 2015 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Canton. 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.
People living today
515
~ 1 in 665,542 Americans
Peak year
2015
33 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,882
Tracked since 1988
Census
Canton in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 500 people with the first name Canton, which placed it at #20,593 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
#20,593
National first-name rank
People counted
500
500 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Canton
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Canton is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Canton 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 Canton at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.6% · 383
- Black or African American9.4% · 47
- Two or more races5.2% · 26
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.0% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino3.0% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 9
Popularity
Canton: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Canton from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 245 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Canton 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 Canton during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Cantons live
Origin
Meaning and history of Canton
The given name Canton is believed to have originated from the French language, stemming from the word "canton" meaning a district or region. It is likely that this name came into use during the medieval period in Europe, particularly in France and surrounding areas.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Canton can be traced back to the 12th century, where it appeared in various historical documents and records from the time. It is possible that the name was initially used as a surname or place name before becoming a first name.
In the 13th century, there are references to a man named Canton de Montauban, who was a French nobleman and military leader during the Albigensian Crusade. His name suggests that the name Canton may have been associated with certain regions or areas at the time.
Another notable figure with the name Canton was a French poet and philosopher from the 16th century named Canton de La Chasse. He was born in 1520 and is known for his works on the nature of the soul and the human condition.
In the 18th century, a French mathematician and physicist named Canton Émilie du Châtelet lived from 1706 to 1749. She made significant contributions to the study of physics and was a influential figure in the Age of Enlightenment.
Moving into the 19th century, a French artist named Canton Félix Trutat was born in 1824 and became known for his landscape paintings depicting scenes from the Pyrenees mountains.
Throughout history, the name Canton has been primarily used in French-speaking regions, although it may have spread to other areas over time. It is not a commonly used name in modern times, but its historical roots can be traced back to the medieval and early modern periods in France and surrounding areas.
People
Canton + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Canton 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
Canton: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Canton?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 515 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Canton 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 665,542 US residents.
Is Canton a common name?
We classify Canton as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 520 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Canton most popular?
The single biggest year for Canton was 2015, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Canton is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Canton in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 500 people with the name Canton, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,593 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 Canton 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 Canton?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Canton leans strongly male. 474 people counted with this name were male (95.0%), compared with 25 female bearers (5.0%). 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 Canton?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Canton is White at 76.6%. The next largest groups are Black (9.4%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Canton most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Canton in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.6% (383 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 Canton in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Canton a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Canton 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 Canton still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Canton 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 Canton 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 Canton?
Want to know how many Americans are named Canton? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.