The municipality's town page connects the name with two cannons and an anchor.
Heritage
More than one account
Public sources give different explanations for the name. This guide records the difference rather than presenting one account as settled fact.
What the public sources say
The Stats SA settlement page records a different account involving a cannon seen by Robert Jacob Gordon.
These explanations differ. The evidence reviewed here does not establish one definitive origin.
Source wording is summarized, not reproduced.
The cannons and anchors
A separate historical article records what is known about the village cannons and anchors, including where the cannons were reported salvaged and why their shipwreck origins remain uncertain.
Read: Cannon Rocks cannons and anchors
Statistics South Africa uses the spelling “Canon Rocks” on its page and presents historical settlement information. That material should be read in its original context.