Seann
Masculine · “God is gracious”
Seann is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 517 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Seann is Sean with a second n, and it is the exact spelling of the American actor Seann William Scott. The letters also make a real word: in Scottish Gaelic, seann means 'old', and it names the Highland dance Seann Triubhas, 'old trousers'.
How old is the name Seann?
Seann first appears in US birth records in 1966 — 59 years ago. The typical Seann alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 500 people named Seann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Seann most popular?
Seann peaked in 1970, reaching #1889 nationally. See the whole 1970 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Hebrew Yohanan to Seann
The story of Seann
Sean came into Irish through the Norman French Jehan, and it crossed to America as an Irish man's name. Seann, with the doubled n, appears in American records as one of its spellings, and Seann William Scott, known for the American Pie films, has carried it into film credits. In Scottish Gaelic, seann is a form of the word for 'old' that stands before a noun, and the dance Seann Triubhas, performed at Highland games, is traditionally tied to the lifting of the eighteenth-century ban on Highland dress.
Meaning
God is gracious, as John through Sean
Sean is the Irish form of John, which goes back to Hebrew Yohanan, 'God is gracious'. The Scottish Gaelic word seann, 'old', is a separate word that happens to share the spelling.
How the name formed
- Hebrew Yohanan
- John
- Norman French Jehan
- Irish Sean
- Seann
Related forms: Seán · John · Iain
Pronouncing Seann
SHAWN
One syllable, said exactly like Sean and Shawn.
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
- 1966
- Most boys named
- 198226 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1889reached in 1970
- Change vs 2010
- −44.4%5 in 2012, from 9
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.
Seann in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Seán in Irish — same name
- John in English — related form
- Iain in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Seanns among us
people named Seann are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Seann sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Said exactly like Sean, one of the most familiar Irish names in America.
- A known bearer of this exact spelling in the actor Seann William Scott.
- The letters also spell a real Scottish Gaelic word, seann, 'old'.
- Most people will write Sean or Shawn; the second n will need spelling out.
- Some will read the doubled n as a typo until they learn otherwise.
- Nearly every child with this spelling is a boy; a girl called Seann will mostly meet it on boys and men.
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Seann
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Seanns 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 Seann are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Seann in 2025?
- Seann is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Seann with classmates?
- Seann will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Steven#271 · Stephen#383 · Samuel#18 · Scott#534 · Sean#489 · Shawn#681 · Stanley#863 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Seann? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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