Cahoon
A surname usually treated as an Anglicized form of an Irish/Scottish Gaelic name, often linked with Colquhoun or a related Gaelic source.
The #6,918 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 63,672 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Cahoon is generally regarded as an Anglicized spelling of a Gaelic surname, most often connected with Colquhoun and related forms. The exact line of descent is not fully secure from the excerpts, but the name is clearly part of the same family of spellings as Calhoun, Cahoon, and Colquhoun. In practice, it is usually explained as a phonetic English rendering of a Gaelic surname that shifted in spelling as it moved into English-speaking records.
History
The name appears in historical surname lists alongside Calhoun and Colquhoun, showing that the forms were treated as closely related variants. In North America, Cahoon and Calhoun became established as separate recorded spellings, especially in families of Irish and Scottish ancestry. The surname remains comparatively uncommon, with a modest presence in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname compilers often grouped Cahoon and Calhoun together, reflecting how fluid surname spelling could be before standardization.
From the historical record
“COLQUHOUN. Cahoon. 91. ( 'ahoun. Calhoun. LCallan]. 399. Connaghton.”
— Varieties and Synonymes of Surnames and Christian Names in Ireland