Save Gender Masculine Usage Indian, American (Rare) Pronounced Pron. KAN-nun(Indian) KAN-ən(American) [key] Other Forms FormsKannan, Cannon, Kannon Meaning & History As a Tamil word a variant of Kannan derived from an originally Sanskrit name for Krishna, the supreme god of the Hindi religion. In Tamil the name means "playful or merry." As an American name Kannen is a spelling variant of Cannon.