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Kannon

Kannon: name meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning
“Guanyin; goddess of mercy”
Origin
Japanese
Say it
KAN-ən · 2 syllables
Used for
Boys (98% of all uses)

Kannon is the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, associated with compassion. It is also used as a modern given name in English-speaking contexts, sometimes influenced by the word cannon.

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How popular is Kannon?

202471.0 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 Kannon in 2024237

2024 rank#986 boys

Peak year2020

Total US babies since 18805,905

Kannon is rising: use over the last five years is 2.3× what it was a decade earlier.

Names like Kannon

Variants, related forms and names with the same roots.

  • Kobegod's door · Japanese
  • Raidenthunder and lightning · Japanese
  • Kodauncertain · Japanese
  • Roninmasterless samurai · Japanese
  • Kaizenimprovement; change for better · Japanese
  • Kenzohealthy and three · Japanese
  • Kenjihealthy second son · Japanese
  • Zenmeditation · Japanese

Kannon questions

What does the name Kannon mean?

Kannon means "Guanyin; goddess of mercy". It comes from Japanese. Kannon is the Japanese name of the Buddhist bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, associated with compassion. It is also used as a modern given name in English-speaking contexts, sometimes influenced by the word cannon.

Is Kannon a boy or girl name?

Kannon is mainly a boy's name in US records (98% of uses since 1880).

How popular is Kannon?

237 US babies were named Kannon in 2024. Its peak year was 2020.

How do you pronounce Kannon?

Kannon is usually pronounced KAN-ən.

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.