Kinaan
An Arabic name meaning "skilled craftsman" or "skillful creator".
Name Census estimates that about 6 living Americans carry the first name Kinaan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kinaan today is around 5 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kinaan births was 2021 (6 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kinaan. 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 Kinaan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Kinaan. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
6
~ 1 in 57,125,723 Americans
Peak year
2021
6 babies that year
Average age
5
years old
2021 SSA rank
#11,511
Tracked since 2021
Popularity
Kinaan: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Kinaan 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 Kinaan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 6 | 0 | 6 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Kinaan
The name Kinaan is of Semitic origin, derived from the ancient Aramaic language spoken in the Middle East and parts of the Mediterranean region during the first millennium BC. The name is closely related to the Hebrew name Kenan, which is derived from the root word "qyn" meaning "to establish" or "to acquire."
The earliest recorded instance of the name Kinaan can be found in the Book of Genesis, which is part of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. In Genesis 5:9-14, Kenan (the Hebrew variant) is mentioned as the son of Enosh and the father of Mahalalel, making him a descendant of Adam and part of the genealogical line leading to Noah.
Throughout history, the name Kinaan has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest was Kinaan ibn Rabi'ah (died c. 625 AD), a pre-Islamic Arab poet from the tribe of Fazara, known for his eloquence and mastery of the Arabic language.
Another prominent figure was Kinaan al-Faqih (died c. 1025 AD), a renowned Islamic scholar and jurist from Baghdad, who made significant contributions to the study of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and hadith literature.
In more recent times, Kinaan Makiya (born 1949) is an Iraqi-American author and scholar, known for his critiques of Saddam Hussein's regime and his work on Iraqi art and culture.
Kinaan Dajani (born 1965) is a Palestinian-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, known for his investments in technology startups and his work in promoting entrepreneurship in the Middle East.
Kinaan Adeeb Awad (born 1987) is a Lebanese actor and model, who has appeared in numerous television series and films in the Arab world.
It's worth noting that while the name Kinaan has its roots in the ancient Semitic languages, it has been used across various cultures and regions throughout history, often with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation.
People
Kinaan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kinaan 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
Kinaan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kinaan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kinaan 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 57,125,723 US residents.
Is Kinaan a common name?
We classify Kinaan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 22.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 6 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kinaan most popular?
The single biggest year for Kinaan was 2021, when 6 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kinaan is about 5 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Kinaan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kinaan a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kinaan 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 Kinaan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kinaan 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 Kinaan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Kinaan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.