Gannon
- Pronunciation
- [Ga-nnon]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Fair-Skinned
- Origin
- Gaelic
About the Name Gannon
Gannon is a Gaelic surname transferred to given-name use, rooted in the Irish Mag Fhionnáin or related fair-haired clan names, with the core element fionn meaning "fair," "white," or "bright" — the same root that underlies the legendary hero Fionn Mac Cumhaill. In its anglicized form the initial F was absorbed and the name contracted, yielding Gannon with its strong, punchy double-n center. The meaning "fair-skinned" reflects this etymological heritage and places Gannon in a distinguished company of Gaelic names celebrating lightness and brightness as ideals of beauty and character. As a given name it has a rugged, confident sound that feels both Celtic and unmistakably American.
Gannon entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2002 and climbed to its peak of #414 in 2014 before beginning a gradual retreat. It last appeared in the top-1000 in 2018, sitting at #886 with 246 boys. More than 3,400 boys were named Gannon within the SSA top-1000 era. Its trajectory — a steady rise to a mid-2010s peak followed by a pullback — mirrors the broader fate of several Celtic surname-names that caught parental attention in the 2000s and generated genuine enthusiasm before softening. Gannon remains a strong, distinctive choice for families with Irish or Scots-Irish roots who want a surname-name that avoids the most saturated options, and its absence from the current top-1000 adds to its appeal for parents who value a degree of rarity.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Gannon
US Popularity History (2002–2018)
Annual US births named Gannon by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2014 with 751 boys named Gannon (boy rank #414 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2018, ranked #886 for boys (246 US births). That's 472 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.
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Where in the US Is Gannon 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 Gannon the strongest states are Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky.
Strongest boys-name states
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Gannon in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Looking for names like Gannon?
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.
Compare Gannon to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Gannon against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).