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Updated January 23, 2020

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Hebrew : Stalk, reed

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

  • Chinese : spelling variant of Jian.
  • Chinese : from the name of a place called Kan which existed during the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bc) in the state of Lu, in present-day Shandong province. Some residents adopted the place name as their surname.
  • Chinese : variant of Gan 1.
  • Czech (Káň) : from kanit meaning ‘to slobber or slaver’ and by extension ‘to gossip’, hence a nickname for a gossip.
  • Czech : nickname from káně ‘buzzard’.
  • German : derivative of the personal name Konrad.
  • Jewish (Ashkenazic) : one of the many forms of Cohen.
  • Dutch : from Middle Dutch kan(ne), can(ne) ‘tankard’, ‘flagon’, ‘pitcher’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a maker of such vessels: a potter or a pewterer.
  • Reduced form of Dutch van de Kan : habitational name for someone from De Kan in Veurne or a place called Kanne.

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