Senna
Feminine · “the senna plant”
Senna is given to both — 1,098 girls and 107 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Senna is a desert shrub whose name is Arabic — sana, the plant used as a purgative since the ninth century, and one of the oldest medicines still in a pharmacopoeia.
How old is the name Senna?
Senna first appears in US birth records in 1944 — 81 years ago. The typical Senna is a kid of about 7 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,100 people named Senna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Senna most popular?
Senna peaked in 2025, reaching #1747 nationally. Today it ranks #1747, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From sana to Senna
The story of Senna
Senna leaves have been used medicinally since Arab physicians described them in the ninth century and remain a listed drug. Ayrton Senna, the Brazilian driver killed at Imola in 1994, made the surname internationally known. The name appears in the American registers rising through the 2010s and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
the senna plant
From the Arabic sana, the senna shrub, borrowed into medieval Latin as sena. A second route reads Senna as the Brazilian surname of the racing driver Ayrton Senna, itself of Italian origin. A third treats it as a respelling of Sienna. All are in circulation.
How the name formed
- sana
- sena
- Senna
Related forms: سنا · Senna · Sena
Pronouncing Senna
SEN-uh
Two syllables, stress on the first. Portuguese Senna says it the same way with a nasal quality.
Nicknames for Senna
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
- 1944
- Most girls named
- 2025116 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1747reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +17.2%116 in 2025, from 99
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.
Senna in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- سنا in Arabic — related form
- Senna in Dutch — same name
- Sena in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Florida, New York.
Sennas among us
people named Senna are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 13,856 born in 2025 was named Senna
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Senna
- #1747
- Senna on the 2025 chart
- #787
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Senna went to 116 girls in 2025, but Sena and Seena are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 173, which makes it the 787th most-given girls’ name of the year — 960 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 9,291 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 13,856 for Senna 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 Olyvia test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Senna's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Olyvia climbed just as high around 2004, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Olyvia's path sketches the road Senna is walking now.
Senna is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Senna is headed
Senna looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 48% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Senna beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Senna in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The plant is real and its medical history runs back eleven centuries.
- It is a current name in the Netherlands, where it is well established.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- The origin is genuinely split three ways.
- The plant's specific medical use is one some families will pause over.
- Sienna and Jenna are close enough to cause confusion.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Senna to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Senna
Feminine · #1747 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sennas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Senna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Senna?
- Senna is the most-used spelling in US records — 116 of the 173 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Sena and Seena.
- How popular is the name Senna in 2025?
- Senna ranks #1747 among US girl names in 2025, with 116 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Senna?
- About 1 in every 13,856 US girls born in 2025 was named Senna — 116 in all.
- Will my child share the name Senna with classmates?
- Senna will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Senna
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lynlee#1747 · Ahlani#1747 · Samaya#1747 · Nazaria#1747 · Callahan#1747 · Nila#1747 · Lucinda#1747 · Myah#1747
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Senna? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Senna and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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