The name (Kancabchén) is a word from the Mayan language meaning the well of the red ground.

[5] All of the henequen plantations ceased to exist as autonomous communities with the agrarian land reform implemented by President Lazaro Cardenas in 1937.

His decree turned the haciendas into collective ejidos, leaving only 150 hectares to the former landowners for use as private property.

After 1937, figures indicate those living in the community, as the remaining Hacienda Kancabchén houses only the owner's immediate family.

According to the 2005 census conducted by the INEGI, the population of the city was 360 inhabitants, of whom 181 were men and 179 were women.