Cain: Meaning of Baby Name Cain

About the Name Cain

Cain is a short, weighty name of Hebrew origin traditionally linked to the idea of "possessed" or "acquired," connected in the Hebrew scriptures to a root meaning "to get" or "to acquire." Famous from the opening chapters of Genesis, the name carries deep biblical resonance and a stark, single-syllable strength that many parents find compelling. Its blunt power and ancient pedigree give it an edge that sets it apart from softer, more conventional choices.

In modern American usage the name has held a quiet but persistent place. Cain first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2009, peaked in 2014 at rank #726, and remains on the list in 2024 at #974, with 230 boys given the name that year. Across its run it has been given to roughly 4,235 boys who reached the top-1000, a steady showing that reflects a real and durable appetite for a name with such an unmistakably ancient and dramatic pedigree.

Cain's appeal lies in its terse, masculine punch and its biblical gravity, fitting alongside other one-syllable favorites like Cole, Finn, and Beau. It is bold and uncompromising, the kind of name that makes an immediate impression. Its sound also echoes the unrelated surname-style name Kane, and indeed the recorded variant Kane offers a softer, more contemporary spelling of the same crisp, punchy sound for parents who prefer it.

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.

Quick Facts About Cain

1,531

Hebrew baby names in our dictionary

695

Hebrew male names

75

4-letter C-names in our dictionary

791

C-male names total

2009–2024

years of US SSA records (16 total)

4,235

total US births named Cain (all years)

US Popularity History (2009–2024)

📉 Falling fast: Cain dropped 167 places in the US boys ranking over the last 5 years (#807 in 2019 → #974 in 2024).

Annual US births named Cain by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2014 with 330 boys named Cain (boy rank #726 that year).

Where it stands today: in 2024, ranked #974 for boys (230 US births). That's 248 places below its 2014 peak.

Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.

Where in the US Is Cain Most Popular?

Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Cain the strongest states are Kansas, Iowa, Louisiana.

Strongest boys-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Kansas	#537	29
2	Iowa	#552	16
3	Louisiana	#623	53
4	Kentucky	#628	18
5	Wisconsin	#656	42
6	California	#691	368
7	Indiana	#706	56
8	Colorado	#707	31
9	Missouri	#718	42
10	Arizona	#732	71

Weakest boys-name states

#	State	Avg rank	Births
1	Florida	#1,038	47
2	North Carolina	#931	39
3	Pennsylvania	#867	54
4	Georgia	#861	38
5	Illinois	#810	65
6	Tennessee	#783	52
7	Washington	#782	45
8	Ohio	#771	88
9	Texas	#767	304
10	Michigan	#755	68

Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Cain in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.

Variant Forms

Name	Meaning	Gender	Origin
Kane	Intelligent	Male	Celtic

Looking for names like Cain?

A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.

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Compare Cain to Other Popular Names

Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Cain against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).

Cain vs Liam 239,320 births since 2014

Cain vs Noah 230,181 births since 2014

Cain vs Oliver 164,076 births since 2014

Cain vs William 159,918 births since 2014

Cain vs James 157,850 births since 2014

Cain vs Elijah 153,351 births since 2014

Cain vs Benjamin 147,449 births since 2014

Cain vs Lucas 141,302 births since 2014

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