Given name & surname
Kano
“a powerful man”
Kano is used as a given name and a surname. One Japanese interpretation is “a powerful man.”
Original Japanese狩野
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Japanese interpretation is “a powerful man.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Japanese.
How it developed
From Japanese 狩野 (Kano), from Japanese 加納 (Kanō).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1971. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Kano through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 235
- 235 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2022
- 26 babies
- 2025
- 13
- #6,638 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +44%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 13 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 6,638 among boys’ names. Average annual use for boys was 43.8% higher in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 233 as a first name in 2020; 665 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Kano’s family of names
Kano has a related form in Kanoe. Kano has a related form in Kanoh. In Greek usage, Kano as a surname is a transliteration of Κάνο.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
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