| ![Show Contents]() Cahan History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
Etymology of CahanWhat does the name Cahan mean? Jewish surnames were reserved for exceptional individuals, people who were scholars and poets. Therefore, families began to use their surnames as a sign of prominence because of their established family name. 1 The distinguished surname Cahan is a proud sign of an ancient Jewish culture. The surname Cahan is an occupational surname for a priest, and it comes from the Hebrew word "kohen." Traditionally, priests were considered to have been members of a hereditary caste, descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses. Not all Jewish bearers of the surname Cahan belong to this caste, however. When many Jews were being forced to join the Russian Army for a term of 25 years, a number of them changed their last name to Cahan, because members of the clergy were exempt from service. Cahan Spelling VariationsSpelling variations of this family name include: Cohen, Kahn, Cohan, Cohn, Coen, Kohn, Kohen, Cahan, Cahn, Cahen, Kahen, Cohane, Kahane, Kahan, Cohani, Cahani, Cahany, Kahany, Cahana, Kahana, Cohener, Kohener, Kohaner, Kahner, Kahaner, Cohansky, Cahansky, Kahansky, Kogen, Kogan, Cagan, Kagan, Kuhn and many more.
| Cahan migration to the United States | + |
Cahan Settlers in United States in the 19th Century- Cath Cahan, aged 29, who arrived in New York in 1854 2
- Margaret Cahan, aged 50, who landed in New York in 1854 2
| Contemporary Notables of the name Cahan (post 1700) | + |
- Adam Cahan (b. 1971), American consumer technology executive, former Senior Vice President of Mobile and Emerging Products for Yahoo!
- Abraham "Abe" Cahan (1860-1951), Belarusian-born Jewish-American socialist newspaper editor, novelist, and politician
- Lawrence Louis Henry "Hank" Cahan (1933-1992), Canadian professional ice hockey player
- Charles Hazlitt Cahan PC, KC (1861-1944), Canadian lawyer, newspaper editor, businessman, and provincial and federal politician
- Weiss, Nelly. The Origin of Jewish family names: Morphology and History. Peter Lang AG, 2002. Digital
- Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
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