indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
The name Caen is of Gaulish origin, from the words catu-, referring to military activities and magos, field, hence meaning "manoeuvre field" or "battlefield". In Layamon's Brut, the poet asserts that King Arthur named the city in memory of Sir Kay1. The name Caen came to England with the ancestors of the Caen family in the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Caen family lived in north Dorset and Cornwall area of England. The name is a reference to the family's tenure of residence in Caen, near Calvados, Normandy.