Seanna
Feminine · “God is gracious”
Seanna is the feminine that Sean never had in Irish. Irish makes Seán from John and has Siobhán and Sinéad for the women's side; the -a ending on Sean is an English-speaking invention, and a perfectly reasonable one.
How old is the name Seanna?
Seanna first appears in US birth records in 1959 — 66 years ago. The typical Seanna alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 2,300 people named Seanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Seanna most popular?
Seanna peaked in 2006, reaching #1682 nationally. Today it ranks #5238, 3,556 places below that high. See the whole 2006 chart.
Where it comes from
From Yôḥānān to Seanna
The story of Seanna
Irish took John from the Normans as Seán and made it one of the commonest men's names in the country. The English-speaking world adopted it heavily from the 1960s onward, and once Sean was familiar, feminine forms followed in the way they always do: Seanna, Shauna, Shawna, Shana and Shanna all appear in American records through the second half of the twentieth century. Seanna keeps the Irish spelling of the base name, which most of the family does not; it appears from the 1970s and peaks as late as 2006, later than its more phonetic siblings.
Meaning
God is gracious
Sean is the Irish form of John, from Hebrew Yôḥānān through Latin Iohannes and Norman French Jehan — Irish took it from the French rather than directly, which is why it begins with an S sound rather than an I. The reading is settled. The feminine -a is an English-language addition; Irish itself would use Siobhán, which is the feminine of the same French Jehanne.
How the name formed
- Yôḥānān
- Jehan
- Seán
- Seanna
Related forms: Siobhán · Seán · Shawna · Seonag
Pronouncing Seanna
SHAWN-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. The Irish ea is a single vowel said as aw, which is the one thing English readers do not guess; SEE-ann-uh is a common misreading.
Nicknames for Seanna
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
- 1959
- Most girls named
- 2006125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1682reached in 2006
- Change vs 2024
- −17.2%24 in 2025, from 29
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.
Seanna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Siobhán in Irish — related form
- Seán in Irish — related form
- Shawna in English — spelling variant
- Seonag in Scottish Gaelic — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California.
Seannas among us
people named Seanna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was named Seanna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Seanna
- #5238
- Seanna on the 2025 chart
- #928
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Seanna went to 24 girls in 2025, but Ceanna is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 32, which makes it the 928th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,310 places above the chart.
- Seanna24
- Ceanna8
About 1 girl in 50,227 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 66,969 for Seanna itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Kimmy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Seanna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Kimmy climbed just as high around 1967, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Kimmy's path sketches the road Seanna is walking now.
Seanna 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
Seanna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Seanna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It keeps the genuine Irish spelling of the name behind it.
- The meaning is settled and shared with one of the world's largest name families.
- Shay works as a short form for either sex.
- The Irish ea is not readable in English and the name will be misread constantly.
- Shawna and Shauna are the phonetic spellings and are commoner.
- Irish itself would use Siobhán, so the form is English rather than Irish.
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What they receive
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Seanna
Feminine · #5238 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Seannas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Seanna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Seanna?
- Seanna is the most-used spelling in US records — 24 of the 32 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Ceanna.
- How popular is the name Seanna in 2025?
- Seanna ranks #5238 among US girl names in 2025, with 24 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Seanna?
- About 1 in every 66,969 US girls born in 2025 was named Seanna — 24 in all.
- Will my child share the name Seanna with classmates?
- Seanna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Seanna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Irena#5238 · Esma#5238 · Dagny#5238 · Venice#5238 · Lisbeth#5238 · Loralie#5238 · Alania#5238 · Erma#5238
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Seanna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Seanna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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