Kaan
A masculine Turkish name meaning "Lord" or "Ruler".
Name Census estimates that about 850 living Americans carry the first name Kaan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kaan today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kaan births was 2018 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kaan. 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 Kaan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
850
~ 1 in 403,240 Americans
Peak year
2018
39 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,723
Tracked since 1982
Census
Kaan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 862 people with the first name Kaan, which placed it at #13,861 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
#13,861
National first-name rank
People counted
862
862 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kaan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaan is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Kaan 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 Kaan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.6% · 764
- Two or more races4.1% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino2.9% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 25
- Black or African American1.4% · 12
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Kaan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kaan 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 351 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kaan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kaan 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 Kaan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kaans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Kaan, while Texas, Florida, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 47 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kaan
The name Kaan has its origins in the Turkish language and culture, with roots dating back to the ancient Turkic peoples of Central Asia. The name is derived from the Old Turkic word "khan," which means "ruler" or "sovereign." This association with leadership and authority has given the name a strong and powerful connotation throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kaan can be found in the ancient Orkhon inscriptions, a series of monumental stone inscriptions erected in the early 8th century CE by the Göktürk Khanate in present-day Mongolia. These inscriptions celebrate the deeds and achievements of the Göktürk khans, including the legendary Bilge Kaan, who ruled from 681 to 734 CE.
In Islamic history, the name Kaan is closely associated with the Mongol Empire and its imperial legacy. Genghis Khan, the legendary founder of the Mongol Empire, was also known as Chingis Kaan or Jenghiz Khan (c. 1162-1227 CE). His grandson, Kublai Khan (1215-1294 CE), established the Yuan Dynasty in China and became the first non-Chinese emperor to rule over the entire country.
Another notable figure bearing the name Kaan was Batu Khan (c. 1205-1255 CE), a Mongol ruler and the founder of the Golden Horde, a Mongol khanate that ruled over parts of modern-day Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. His descendants, known as the Khans of the Golden Horde, continued to wield significant power in the region for centuries.
In Indian history, the name Kaan is closely linked to the Mughal Empire, which ruled over much of the Indian subcontinent from the 16th to the 19th century. One of the most famous Mughal rulers was Akbar the Great (1542-1605 CE), who was also known as Akbar Khan. His grandson, Shah Jahan (1592-1666 CE), commissioned the construction of the iconic Taj Mahal in Agra.
Beyond the historical figures, the name Kaan has also been borne by various literary and artistic figures, such as the Turkish novelist and playwright Kaan Müjdeci (1921-1994 CE) and the Turkish-German actor Kaan Urgancıoğlu (born 1981 CE).
People
Kaan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kaan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kaan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kaan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 850 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kaan 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 403,240 US residents.
Is Kaan a common name?
We classify Kaan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 859 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kaan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kaan was 2018, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kaan is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kaan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 862 people with the name Kaan, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,861 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 Kaan 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 Kaan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kaan appears almost entirely male. Of the 859 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Kaan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kaan is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.1%) and Hispanic (2.9%). 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 Kaan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kaan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.6% (764 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 Kaan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kaan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kaan 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 Kaan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kaan 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 Kaan 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 have the name Kaan?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Kaan, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.