Sean
Feminine · “God is gracious”
Sean is given to boys far more often — 423,637 boys against 2,969 girls since 1880. See Sean as a boy name
Irish had no letter J when John arrived, so it took the name from Norman French rather than from Latin and rebuilt the front of it. Jehan became Seaghan and then Sean. The S at the start is the sound Irish reached for when it met a consonant it did not have.
How old is the name Sean?
Sean first appears in US birth records in 1939 — 86 years ago. The typical Sean alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 2,800 people named Sean are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sean most popular?
Sean peaked in 1968, reaching #1147 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 10,785 places below that high. See the whole 1968 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yochanan to Sean
The story of Sean
The J sound did not exist in Irish and the letter still is not part of the traditional Irish alphabet, which has eighteen letters. When Norman French brought Jehan to Ireland in the twelfth century, Irish substituted the nearest thing it had, which was the sh sound written with a slender s, and the name has been Sean ever since. English speakers meeting it in writing had no way to work that out, which is why the phonetic spelling Shaun and Shawn exist alongside it. The accent matters more than it looks. Sean with a long a is the name; sean with a short one is the word for old, as in Sean-nos, the old style of singing, and dropping the accent turns one into the other.
Meaning
God is gracious
Irish Sean, from Norman French Jehan, from Latin Iohannes and Hebrew Yochanan: God is gracious. The accent over the a in Irish marks a long vowel. Without it, sean is an ordinary Irish adjective meaning old, so the accent is doing real work.
How the name formed
- Yochanan
- Iohannes
- Jehan
- Sean
Related forms: Sean · Seathan · Shawn
Pronouncing Sean
SHAWN
One syllable, with the vowel of dawn. In Northern Ireland and parts of Ulster it is closer to SHAN, with the vowel of hand, and both are correct in their own regions.
Nicknames for Sean
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
- 1939
- Most girls named
- 1988103 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1147reached in 1968
- Change vs 2024
- −12.5%7 in 2025, from 8
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.
Sean in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sean in Irish — same name
- Seathan in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Shawn in English — spelling variant
Seans among us
people named Sean are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Sean
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 Leanore test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sean's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Leanore climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Leanore's path sketches the road Sean is walking now.
Sean 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
Sean beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sean in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Hebrew meaning shared with the largest name family in Europe.
- One syllable, which very few names of this history manage.
- It is the Irish spelling rather than a phonetic English one, which settles the question of which came first.
- Shawn and Shaun are both common and this spelling will be read wrong by anyone meeting it cold.
- The accent that distinguishes the name from the word for old cannot be typed on most American forms.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Sean to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Sean? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Sean
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Seans are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Sean are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sean in 2025?
- Sean ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sean?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Sean — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sean with classmates?
- Sean will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sean
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sean? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sean and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle