Cannon
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Meaning
English surname from Middle English canon, a church official; the modern ear also hears the artillery word (Italian cannone, "large tube")
The story
Cannon is two names wearing one spelling, and Behind the Name keeps both honestly: the English surname derives from the Middle English canon, a church official or servant of a clergy house, while the modern ear hears the vocabulary word for the large gun, from the Italian cannone, "large tube", from the Latin canna, "cane, reed". So a boy named Cannon is, on paper, closer to a cathedral than an artillery line. The records show the arrival: sparse and intermittent before the 1970s, about 540 boys in the 1990s, about 2,400 in the 2000s, about 5,000 in the 2010s, and about 2,700 so far this decade. A churchman's title, a reed, a roar: rarely does one syllable carry three such different inheritances at once.
How popular is Cannon around the world?
In the United States, 2,761 babies were named Cannon between 2020 and 2025.
Cannon is on the official records of the United States and Canada.
United States
1 in 7,900
In the United States, 2,761 babies were named Cannon between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Cannon peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Canada
1 in 61,000
In Canada, 6 boys named Cannon were born in 2024, ranked 2,855th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
South Australia
last on record 2007
Cannon is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, England and Wales, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Cannon
Most people given the name Cannon in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Cannon deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Cannon truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Cannon fits with your family’s names and surname.
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