Eion
Masculine · “Hebrew Yohanan”
Irish has two names for John and they came by different roads. Eoin came straight from Latin with the gospels; Sean came later, from Norman French. The first is the evangelist's name and the second is everybody else's.
How old is the name Eion?
Eion first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Eion alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 500 people named Eion are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Eion most popular?
Eion peaked in 2000, reaching #2805 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 7,890 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Where it comes from
From Iohannes to Eion
The story of Eion
The Latin Iohannes reached Ireland with Christianity in the fifth century and was adapted as Eoin, which is therefore an old Irish word with an ordinary Irish shape. Sean is much younger: the Normans brought Jehan to Ireland after 1169, Irish borrowed it as Seaan and then Sean, and it became the everyday name. The two coexist. Irish bibles use Eoin for John the Baptist and John the Evangelist, while Sean is the name a man is likely to be called, and the same split exists in Scottish Gaelic between Iain and Eoin. English speakers meeting both usually assume one is a variant of the other; they are the same name arriving in the same language twice, eight hundred years apart, by different routes.
Meaning
Hebrew Yohanan, Yah is gracious
Eion is a spelling of Irish Eoin, taken directly from Latin Iohannes at an early date. Sean entered Irish later from Norman French Jehan. Both are Irish for John and they are used differently; Eoin is the form used for the biblical John. The peak of this spelling is 2000.
How the name formed
- Iohannes
- Eoin
- Eion
Related forms: Eoin · Iain · John
Pronouncing Eion
OH-in
Two syllables, stress on the first. Eoin is said the same way; it rhymes with Owen, which is a separate Welsh name.
Nicknames for Eion
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1981
- Most boys named
- 200032 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2805reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- −45.5%6 in 2025, from 11
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Eion in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Eoin in Irish — spelling variant
- Iain in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- John in English — same name
Eions among us
people named Eion are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Eion
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Perkins test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Eion's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Perkins climbed just as high around 1921, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Perkins's path sketches the road Eion is walking now.
Eion sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Eion beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Eion in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine Irish name with a documented early history.
- Two syllables and four letters.
- The name behind it is universally known.
- Eoin is the standard Irish spelling.
- Americans read it as Ian or Owen.
- The 2000 peak dates this form.
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What they receive
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Eion
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Eions are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Eion are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Eion in 2025?
- Eion ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Eion?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Eion — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Eion with classmates?
- Eion will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Eion
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Allison#10695 · Candido#10695 · Nora#10695 · Garnet#10695 · Rogers#10695 · Osborn#10695 · Hannibal#10695 · Radford#10695
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Eion? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Eion and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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