Kannan
Originally a Sanskrit name meaning "he who delights in the arts".
Name Census estimates that about 325 living Americans carry the first name Kannan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kannan today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kannan births was 2018 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kannan. 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 Kannan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
325
~ 1 in 1,054,629 Americans
Peak year
2018
26 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,623
Tracked since 1998
Census
Kannan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 892 people with the first name Kannan, which placed it at #13,511 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
#13,511
National first-name rank
People counted
892
892 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kannan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kannan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 76.5%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Kannan 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 Kannan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander76.5% · 682
- White13.1% · 117
- Black or African American5.0% · 45
- Two or more races3.0% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
Popularity
Kannan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kannan 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 147 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kannan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kannan 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 Kannan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kannans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Kannan
The given name Kannan has its origins in Tamil, an ancient Dravidian language native to the Indian subcontinent. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Kanna," which means "one with beautiful eyes." It is believed to have been in use since the early centuries of the common era.
In Hindu mythology, Kannan is one of the names associated with the god Murugan, the son of Shiva and Parvati. Murugan is revered as the god of war, wisdom, and youth, and his names, including Kannan, are widely used as personal names among Tamil communities.
The earliest recorded use of the name Kannan can be traced back to ancient Tamil literature, such as the Sangam period works like Purananuru and Kuruntokai, which date back to the first few centuries AD. These literary works often referred to deities and heroes using various epithets and names, including Kannan.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Kannan was Kannan Nambiar, a 16th-century Tamil poet and scholar from present-day Kerala. He is celebrated for his contributions to the Bhakti movement and his devotional works.
Another notable figure from history was Kannan Devan Nair, a Singaporean politician and diplomat who served as the third President of Singapore from 1981 to 1985. He was born in 1923 and played a crucial role in Singapore's struggle for independence.
In the realm of Tamil literature, Kannan Narayanaswami (1927-2016) was a renowned poet, essayist, and literary critic. He was awarded the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award in 1998 for his collection of poems titled "Vizhiyil."
Kannan Rangaswami (1913-1971) was a pioneering Indian film director and screenwriter who made significant contributions to the Tamil film industry in the mid-20th century. He is credited with introducing several innovative techniques and themes to Tamil cinema.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Kannan was Kannan Gopinathan, an Indian civil servant who gained recognition for his principled resignation from the Indian Administrative Service in 2019, citing the lack of freedom of expression in the country.
The name Kannan continues to be popular among Tamil communities worldwide, carrying with it a rich cultural and historical significance rooted in the ancient Tamil and Sanskrit traditions.
People
Kannan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kannan 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
Kannan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kannan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 325 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kannan 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 1,054,629 US residents.
Is Kannan a common name?
We classify Kannan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 328 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kannan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kannan was 2018, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kannan is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kannan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 892 people with the name Kannan, or 0.30 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,511 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 Kannan 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 Kannan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kannan leans strongly male. 855 people counted with this name were male (95.5%), compared with 40 female bearers (4.5%). 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 Kannan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kannan is Asian/Pacific Islander at 76.5%. The next largest groups are White (13.1%) and Black (5.0%). 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 Kannan most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Kannan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (682 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 Kannan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kannan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kannan 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 Kannan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kannan 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 Kannan 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 Kannan?
Want to know how many Americans are named Kannan? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.