Cohen hit its peak in 2024 at rank 239, with 21,444 total American uses. The most-recent peak shows a name still in active climb. Cohen is also one of the more culturally complicated entries on the current chart: it is a Jewish surname meaning "priest," used as a first name primarily by non-Jewish American families, which has prompted ongoing discussion about appropriation and naming etiquette.
The Hebrew priestly title
Cohen comes from Hebrew kohen, meaning "priest," specifically the hereditary priestly class descended from Aaron in Jewish tradition. The Cohanim (plural) are the priestly lineage with specific religious duties and restrictions in Jewish law. The surname Cohen (and its variants Kahan, Cohn, Kohn, and others) descends from this priestly heritage and is one of the most common Jewish surnames worldwide.
For most of history, Cohen was a Jewish surname and an indication of priestly lineage, never a first name. The American first-name use is essentially a 21st-century non-Jewish phenomenon, part of the broader vogue for surname-style boy names that includes Maddox and Knox.
The naming-etiquette discussion
Within Jewish communities, the use of Cohen as a first name by non-Jewish families has generated public commentary, with some Jewish writers describing the practice as analogous to using "Bishop" or "Reverend" as a baby name without religious context. The debate is genuinely contested; Jewish-American opinion is not monolithic, and some Jewish commentators are unbothered while others find the use uncomfortable.
Cohen sits inside the surname-name cluster that includes Maddox, Knox, Brooks, and Karter. Phonetically the name has a soft C-O opening and a -hen ending that reads as approachable and friendly.
The counter-reading
The honest concern with Cohen is the cultural-context question. Parents picking the name are typically not aware of the priestly-lineage meaning, and the conversation around appropriation is genuinely live in current American naming discourse. Some families are comfortable with the naming choice after considering the issue; others reconsider. The Hebrew-origin cluster places Cohen in context.