Chanel is a French surname that is usually explained as "channel" or "canal", a name for someone who lived by a watercourse. As a first name it is entirely the legacy of the designer Coco Chanel, whose fashion house turned the word into a byword for Parisian elegance, which is why it sits alongside Dior and Armani in American naming. Chanel stood at number 815 in 2000, peaked at number 630 in 2014, fell out of the top 1000 in 2023 and ranks number 1311 in 2025.