Canton

First Name
408
in the U.S.
since 1880
Last Name
2k
in the U.S.
in 2010
Girls
Boys
First
Last
On This Page
  1. Related Names
  2. Pronunciation
  3. Meanings and Origins
  4. Notable Persons Named Canton
  5. Notable Persons With the Last Name Canton
  6. Regional Popularity
  7. Ethnicity Distribution
  8. Fun Facts
  9. What Cantons Have Visited This Page?
  10. Name Poster

How to Pronounce Canton

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Meaning and Origin

What does the name Canton mean? Find out below.

Origin and Meaning of Canton

User Submitted Meanings

  • A submission from Rhode Island, United States says the name Canton means "Cornerstone" and is of English origin.

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International Interest
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Webster's Unabridged Dictionary
noun Can"ton
A song or canto
noun Can"ton
Senses
  1. A small portion; a division; a compartment."That little canton of land called the “English pale”" [Davies.]"There is another piece of Holbein's, . . . in which, in six several cantons, the several parts of our Savior's passion are represented." [Bp. Burnet.]
  2. A small community or clan.
  3. A small territorial district; esp. one of the twenty-two independent states which form the Swiss federal republic; in France, a subdivision of an arrondissement. See Arrondissement.
  4. [Her] A division of a shield occupying one third part of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top of the shield, meeting a horizontal line from the side."The king gave us the arms of England to be borne in a canton in our arms." [Evelyn.]

Etymology: F. canton, augm. of OF. cant edge, corner. See 1st Cant

verb Can"ton
Senses
  1. To divide into small parts or districts; to mark off or separate, as a distinct portion or division."They canton out themselves a little Goshen in the intellectual world." [Locke.]
  2. [Mil] To allot separate quarters to, as to different parts or divisions of an army or body of troops.

Etymology: Cf. F.cantonner

Other Dictionary Sources
  1. A small administrative division of a country
  2. A city on the Zhu Jiang delta in southern China; the capital of Guangdong province and a major deep-water port
    Synonyms: guangzhou, kuangchou, and kwangchow
  3. Divide into cantons, of a country
  4. Provide housing for (military personnel)
    Synonyms: billet and quarter
Wiktionary

From Old French canton (“corner”).

  1. A division of a political unit.
    1. One of the states comprising the Swiss Confederation.
    2. A subdivision of an arrondissement of France.
    3. A division of Luxembourg, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.
  2. A small community or clan.
  3. A subdivision of a flag, the rectangular inset on the upper hoist (i.e., flagpole) side (e.g., the stars of the US national flag are in a canton).
  4. (heraldry) A division of a shield occupying one third of the chief, usually on the dexter side, formed by a perpendicular line from the top meeting a horizontal line from the side.

    canton was also found in the following language(s): French and Venetian

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    Notable Persons Named Canton

    Canton Jones

    Canton Jones is a christian hip hop, christian r&b, contemporary christian music, urban contemporary gospel, and contemporary r&b musician. His most notable accomplishments were from 2002 to present. Canton was given the name Canton Dorrelle Jones on January 9th, 1977 in Deerfield Beach, Florida, US. Canton is also known as Cajo and Canton Jones.

    Popularity:
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    Notable Persons With the Last Name Canton

    Mark Canton

    Mark Canton is a film producer. He has been prominent since 1974. Mark was born on June 19th, 1949 in Queens, New York, U.S.

    Popularity:
    Joanna Canton

    Joanna Canton is an actress. Her ongoing career started in 1987. Joanna was born on February 14th, 1978 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S.

    Popularity:
    John Canton

    John Canton was a scientist in the field of physics. John was born on July 31st, 1718 in Stroud. He died on March 22nd, 1772.

    Popularity:
    Neil Canton

    Neil Canton is a film producer. Neil was born in 1948 in United States.

    Popularity:
    James Canton

    James was born on April 29th, 1951.

    Popularity:
    Bruce Dal Canton

    Bruce Dal Canton was a baseball player. Bruce was born on June 15th, 1941 in California, Pennsylvania, U.S. He passed away on October 7th, 2008.

    Popularity:
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    Where is the name Canton popular?

    International Interest for Canton

    Interest is based how many people viewed this name from each country and is scaled based on the total views by each country so that large countries do not always show the most interest. Darker blue on the map indicates that people in the country are more likely to search for this name.

    Longer bars in the bar graph indicate that people in the country are more interested in the name. Not all countries that have shown an interest in the name are listed in the bar graph.

    United States
    United Kingdom
    Canada
    Germany
    India
    Ireland
    Switzerland

    Popularity in the US

    View popular names by state or region.

    Popularity of Canton as a last name

    The map shows the absolute popularity of the name Canton as a last name in each of the states. See other popular names in New York, California, or Florida.

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    Common first names for Canton

    Ethnicity Distribution

    Ethnicity Canton U.S.
    █  White 43.86% 64.26%
    █  African American 20.61% 11.96%
    █  Asian, Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander 5.10% 4.85%
    █  American Indian and Alaska Native 0.42% 0.69%
    █  Two or More Ethnicities 3.06% 1.76%
    █  Hispanic or Latino 26.94% 16.26%

    Of Last Name Canton

    People with the last name Canton are most frequently White, African American, or Hispanic or Latino

    Entire United States

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    Fun Facts about the name Canton

    • How Popular is the name Canton? Canton is the 18,362nd most popular name of all time. As a last name Canton was the 13,049th most popular name in 2010.
    • How many people with the first name Canton have been born in the United States? From 1880 to 2017, the Social Security Administration has recorded 408 babies born with the first name Canton in the United States. That's more than enough people named Canton to occupy the territory of Pitcairn Islands (United Kingdom) with an estimated population of 66 (as of July 1, 2008).
    • What year were 5 or more babies first named Canton? The name was first given to 5 or more babies in the year 1988 when it was given as a first name to 5 new born babies.
    • When was Canton first recorded in the United States? The oldest recorded birth by the Social Security Administration for the first name Canton is Friday, April 20th, 1888.
    • What year had the most people named Canton born? The highest recorded use of the first name Canton was in 2015 with a total of 33 babies.
    • Random Canton Factoid: According to the 2016 U.S. Social Security Administration data, the first name Canton is not a popular baby boy's name in Florida. Imagine that, only 5 babies in Florida have the same name as you in 2016.
    • Weird things about the name Canton: Your name in reverse order is Notnac. A random rearrangement of the letters in your name (anagram) will give Cntaon. How do you pronounce that?
    • How many people have the last name Canton? In 2010, the U.S. Census Bureau surveyed 2,353 people with the last name Canton.
    • How likely are you to meet someone with the last name of Canton? Chances are, most people haven't met someone with Canton as their last name since less than 1 person in 125k people have that last name. If you know one, consider yourself lucky!
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    What Cantons Have Visited This Page?

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    Name poster for Canton

    Name poster for Canton(click to save the high quality version)

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    Most Popular Names

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    All Name Lists

    • Sources:
    • U.S. Census Bureau: Frequently Occurring Surnames from the Census 2000 (public domain).
    • U.S. Social Security Administration: Popular Baby Names, Death Master File (public domain).
    • 1913 Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary via the Collaborative International Dictionary of English (License)
    • Other Dictionary Sources: WordNet 3.1 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University (License).
    • Wiktionary: Titles and License.
    • Notable persons via Wikipedia: Titles and License. Click each image for the attribution information.