Kainan
A masculine name of Hawaiian origin meaning "the victor".
Name Census estimates that about 869 living Americans carry the first name Kainan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kainan today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kainan births was 2018 (72 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kainan. 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
869
~ 1 in 394,424 Americans
Peak year
2018
72 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,966
Tracked since 1992
Popularity
Kainan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kainan 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 391 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kainan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kainan 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 Kainan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kainans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Kainan, while Florida, Georgia, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kainan
The name Kainan has its origins in ancient Hebrew, with possible connections to the Semitic root "qyn" or "qyn'n," which is associated with concepts like "possession" or "metalsmith." It first appeared in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, where it referred to a descendant of Adam who lived during the antediluvian period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing this name was Kainan, son of Enos, as mentioned in the genealogical lists found in Genesis 5:9-14. According to the biblical account, he was born in the year 325 AM (Anno Mundi, or the year after creation, according to the Hebrew calendar) and lived for 910 years.
In the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the name is rendered as "Kainan," which likely influenced its subsequent spelling variations in other languages. This name was also preserved in various apocryphal and pseudepigraphical writings, such as the Book of Jubilees and the Genealogy of Christ found in the Gospel of Luke.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Kainan. One of the earliest was Kainan, a medieval Welsh prince who lived in the 6th century AD and was a descendant of the renowned King Arthur. Another was Kainan, a 12th-century abbot of the monastery of Iona in Scotland.
During the Renaissance period, Kainan was the name of a 16th-century Italian painter and engraver, known as Kainan Bresciano (c. 1500-1570), who was active in Venice and is remembered for his religious works and engravings.
In more recent times, Kainan was the name of a 19th-century Hawaiian chief and advisor to King Kamehameha III, who played a significant role in the governance of the Hawaiian Islands in the mid-1800s.
Additionally, Kainan Silva (born 1983) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and former UFC fighter, known for his impressive grappling skills and submission victories in the octagon.
People
Kainan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kainan 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
Kainan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kainan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 869 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kainan 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 394,424 US residents.
Is Kainan a common name?
We classify Kainan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 877 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kainan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kainan was 2018, when 72 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kainan is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kainan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kainan 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.
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.