Cohan likely reflects Cohen, the Hebrew priestly surname meaning 'priest,' though it may also echo Irish Cohan surnames.
Cohan is an anglicized variant of the Hebrew surname and given name Cohen (כֹּהֵן), meaning simply "priest." In ancient Israelite society the Kohanim were the hereditary priestly caste, descendants of Aaron, brother of Moses, charged with conducting Temple rites and maintaining the sacred flame. The title was so central to communal identity that it became a family name carried across two millennia of diaspora, making Cohen one of the most recognizable Jewish surnames in the world.
Using it as a given name, particularly in the spelling Cohan, represents a modern reclamation — transforming an ancestral honorific into a personal forename. The spelling Cohan is inseparable from George M. Cohan (1878–1942), the Irish-American theatrical titan who composed "Give My Regards to Broadway," "The Yankee Doodle Boy," and "Over There" — the latter earning him a Congressional Gold Medal.
Cohan's family name was itself a variant of the Irish Ó Cadhain rather than the Hebrew Cohen, a coincidence of orthography that nonetheless wove the two traditions together in popular imagination. James Cagney immortalized Cohan on screen in the 1942 film Yankee Doodle Dandy, cementing the name's association with American showmanship and patriotic bravado. As a given name in the twenty-first century, Cohan appeals to parents who want a surname-style forename with real historical heft.
It sits comfortably alongside fashionable choices like Cohen, Logan, and Rowan while carrying its own distinct cultural resonance — simultaneously evoking ancient priestly lineage and Broadway's golden age. Its usage has grown steadily in the United States, particularly among families with Jewish or Irish heritage who appreciate the name's dual cultural echo.