Look up another surname
The kan Surname

kan Name Meaning and History

  1. Chinese : spelling variant of Jian.
  2. 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.
  3. Chinese : variant of Gan 1.
  4. Czech (Kán): from kanit meaning ‘to slobber or slaver’ and by extension ‘to gossip’, hence a nickname for a gossip.
  5. Czech: nickname from káne ‘buzzard’.
  6. German: derivative of the personal name Konrad.
  7. Jewish (Ashkenazic): one of the many forms of Cohen.
  8. 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.
  9. Reduced form of Dutch van de Kan: habitational name for someone from De Kan in Veurne or a place called Kanne.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Learn the meaning and history of your first name
Share this page with friends and family

14–Day Free Trial

Download the Getting Started guide
It's FREE with registration!

kan Family Facts

Are you a Facebook user? Add kan family facts to your Facebook profile.
Distribution of kan Families in the US in 1920
Number of kan families
 25-47
 9-24
 1-8
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

Click on a state to view kan census records

Year

How is this helpful?

  • You can decide where (in which states) to start searching for kan records.
  • You can see how kan families moved over time by selecting different Census years.

What do I do next?

The information for this map came from Ancestry.com’s US Federal Census Collection.
  • Census records can tell you little-known facts about your ancestors such as birthplace, residence and occupation.
  • Click here to search kan census records.

Search for kan records

Name

Birth

+/-
e.g. Chicago, Illinois, USA

Death

+/-
e.g. Chicago, Illinois, USA
Give priority to    

More resources for your kan family history

Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?

A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.

Begin your family tree with your name:

Learn more about family trees.

The kan name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the kan family name as far back in history as possible.

Member Connections

More Tools and Resources