Skip to main content

Updated June 9, 2019

Boy name origins & meanings

  • Hawaiian : Man, the eastern sky
  • Irish : Honor, tribute
  • Japanese : Doubly accomplished, golden, man
  • Scottish : Warlike

Boy name variations

How Popular Is The Name Cane

Family name origins & meanings

  • English : nickname for a tall thin man, from Middle English, Old French cane ‘cane’, ‘reed’ (Latin canna). It may also be a topographic name for someone who lived in a damp area overgrown with reeds, or a metonymic occupational name for someone who gathered reeds, which were widely used in the Middle Ages as a floor covering, as roofing material, and for weaving small baskets.
  • Southern Italian : either a habitational name from a place named Canè, in Bescia and Belluna, or more likely an occupational name for a basket maker or the like, from Greek kanna ‘reed’ + the occupational suffix -(e)as.
  • French : Norman and Picard variant of chane a term denoting a particular type of elongated pitcher (ultimately from Latin canna ‘reed’), hence possibly a metonymic occupational name for a potter who specialized in making such jugs, or a nickname for someone who resembled one.
  • Possibly an Americanized spelling of German Köhn (see Kuehn).

Join the Family

Your partner in parenting from baby name inspiration to college planning.

Subscribe