Cannon
Usually a surname from canon, the church official — though in some cases it may also reflect a place-name.
The #466 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 4,343 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The most common explanation is that Cannon comes from Middle English and Anglo-Norman canon, meaning a canon: a member of a cathedral or religious community. The word ultimately goes back to Latin canon, "rule" or "church law," and by extension the person who lived under that rule. In some families, the surname may also have been influenced by or taken from place-names such as Canon in Normandy.
History
Early records in medieval England show forms like le Canon and Le Cannon, which fit the occupational sense well. The name became established in both England and Ireland and later spread widely in North America. Because the spelling matches the modern word "cannon" for artillery, the surname is sometimes misunderstood, but that is not its usual origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some old records preserve the French article le, a clue that the name originally meant "the canon."
From the historical record
“Bristol, in the XV. cent. CANNON. A canon, a member of an ec- clesiastical order. See Ecclesiastical Sur- names. In the H.R. Le Cannon, Le Canon, Canoun. There is a place called Canon, near Lisieux in Normand3^ CANOCHSON. Canock is the Gaelic Corimich or Kenneth, and hence Canoclison is a translation of Mac…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Cannon
- Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941)
- Dyan Cannon (b. 1937)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.