MEANING & HISTORY
What does Nicanor mean?
Nicanor continues Greek Nikanor, a compound associated with nike, victory, and aner, man. It belongs to the same broad victory vocabulary found in several other Greek personal names, while retaining its own distinctive formation.
Ancient Macedonian officers bore the name. It also appears in the New Testament among the seven men selected to serve the early church, giving it a separate Christian transmission history.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Tagalog
- /nikaˈnoɾ/Standard-Tagalog
- [n̪ɪ.x̠ɐˈn̪oɾ]Standard-Tagalog
Ni · ca · nor3 source divisions
Dictionary reading & contributors ↗Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
TagalogEtymology & source
Borrowed from Spanish Nicanor.
a male given name from Spanish
Wiktionary: Nicanor (Tagalog) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
From Ancient Greek Nικάνωρ (Nikánōr)
A male given name from Ancient Greek
Wiktionary: Nicanor (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
SpanishEtymology & source
a male given name
Wiktionary: Nicanor (Spanish) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Nicanor
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Nicanor Abelardo
Filipino composer (1893–1934)
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Nicanor Perlas
Filipino politician
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
10
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
3
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Nicanor Perlas, Nicanor Abelardo
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Nicanor in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Related forms & spellings
Related forms may have their own language histories. They are not included in this spelling’s PSA count.
Similar names to Nicanor
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Eleanor♀English form of Occitan Alienòr
- Kanor♂Clipped familiar form of Nicanor
- Nicasio♂Spanish Nicasius, from Greek victory
- Nico♂♀Short form of Nicholas or Nicodemus
- Nicoy♂Familiar form of Nico
- Niño♂♀Child, in the Santo Niño naming tradition
- Ninoy♂Familiar form of Benigno; kind-name tradition
- Leonor♀Iberian form of Eleanor, from Alienor
What rhymes with Nicanor?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Explore Nicanor further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q35741618 — Nicanor (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Nicanor Perlas (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q35741618 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Nicanor Abelardo (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q35741618 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Nicanor (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Nicanor (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Nicanor (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Nicanor (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.