Kagan is a primarily Russian-Jewish surname which is derived from the surname Cohen (in Russian the consonant h is replaced with the consonant g).
Notable people with the Kagan surname include:
- Bernhard Kagan (1866âÂÂ1932), German chess player, writer, publisher, editor, and organizer
- Carolyn Kagan, British psychologist
- Cheryl Kagan (born 1961), politician
- Daryn Kagan (born 1963), American newscaster
- David Kagan (born 1949), American bishop
- Donald Kagan (1932âÂÂ2021), Yale historian specializing in ancient Greece
- Elena Kagan (born 1960), American jurist, law school dean, and Solicitor General
- Emily Kagan (born 1981), American mixed martial artist
- Frederick Kagan (born 1970), professor of military history, brother of Robert
- Henri Kagan, French chemist
- Helena Kagan (1889âÂÂ1978), Israeli pediatrician
- Janet Kagan (1946âÂÂ2008), author
- Jeremy Kagan (born 1945), American television director
- Jerome Kagan (1929âÂÂ2021), child developmental psychology
- Joseph Kagan, Baron Kagan (1915âÂÂ1995), British industrialist
- Kimberly Kagan (born 1972), military historian, wife of Frederick
- Lazar Kaganovich (1893âÂÂ1991), Soviet politician and administrator
- Mimi Kagan (1918âÂÂ1999), Russian-born American modern dancer, choreographer
- Oleg Kagan (1946âÂÂ1990), Russian violinist
- Robert Kagan (born 1958), American historian and political commentator, brother of Frederick
- Shelly Kagan, philosopher and ethicist
- Shimon Kagan (1942-2024), Israeli chess master
- Veniamin Kagan (1869âÂÂ1953), Russian mathematician
- Vladimir Kagan (1927âÂÂ2016), German furniture designer
- Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838âÂÂ1933), Polish-born rabbi, halakhist, and ethicist