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Canaan

Canaan: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“lowland, merchant”
Origin
Hebrew
Say it
KAY-nun · 2 syllables
Used for
Boys (95% of all uses)

Biblical place-name from Hebrew Kena'an. Its exact original sense is debated, with 'lowland' and 'merchant/trader' both proposed.

Hebrew namesEnglish namesNames meaning faithNames meaning earthBiblical names

How popular is Canaan?

202460.0 per million US babies
1880192019602000
Drag the line or the slider to read any year. Values are per million US births recorded by Social Security. Records before about 1937 undercount births, so early peaks can look taller than they were.

Babies named Canaan in 2024199

2024 rank#1,089 boys

Peak year2016

Total US babies since 18805,947

Canaan has been fairly stable over the last fifteen years.

Names like Canaan

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • KananCanaan · Hebrew
  • Noahrest; comfort · Hebrew
  • Jamessupplanter · Hebrew
  • Elijahmy God is Yahweh · Hebrew
  • JohnYahweh is gracious · Hebrew
  • Michaelwho is like God? · Hebrew
  • Benjaminson of the right hand · Hebrew
  • Levijoined, attached · Hebrew

Canaan questions

What does the name Canaan mean?

Canaan means "lowland, merchant". It comes from Hebrew. Biblical place-name from Hebrew Kena'an. Its exact original sense is debated, with 'lowland' and 'merchant/trader' both proposed.

Is Canaan a boy or girl name?

Canaan is mainly a boy's name in US records (95% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Canaan?

199 US babies were named Canaan in 2024. Its peak year was 2016.

How do you pronounce Canaan?

Canaan is usually pronounced KAY-nun.

Birth counts: US Social Security Administration national data, 1880–2024 (names given to 5+ babies of a sex in a year). How we write meanings.