Cannon Surname Meaning & Origin
What the Cannon last name means, where the surname began and how it spread.
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Meaning and origin of the Cannon last name
Meaning of the Cannon last name: canon (cleric), or descendant of Canannán. The Cannon surname has more than one root. In Ireland it usually comes from Gaelic Ó Canannáin, a Donegal family, while in England it named someone who served a canon, a cathedral priest. The last name is still found mainly in Donegal. A curious detail of this family name meaning: it has nothing to do with artillery, and the Donegal family were once kings of their district.
Arms associated with the Cannon name
Irish heraldry often features animals, hands and trees drawn from old stories, and coats of arms associated with the Cannon surname belong to that tradition.
Get your full Cannon family history
This is only a glimpse of the Cannon story. The full Cannon history report goes much deeper into where the name began, who carried it and how the family spread, and it comes with a museum-style painted Cannon coat of arms. Get the full Cannon report.
Cannon name FAQ
What does the Cannon name mean?
Canon (cleric), or descendant of Canannán. Common variants include Canon, Cannan.
Where does the Cannon surname come from?
It originates in Ireland, and is also found in the United States and England.
Is there a Cannon coat of arms?
Arms were granted to individuals rather than to everyone with a surname. Herald Lab paints a personalized Cannon coat of arms in museum style, based on historic heraldry.
Sources: Reaney & Wilson, Dictionary of English Surnames; Dictionary of American Family Names (Oxford); Patrick Woulfe, Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames (1923); MacLysaght, The Surnames of Ireland.