Shaheen
Masculine · “royal falcon”
Shaheen is given to both — 592 boys and 143 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Shaheen is the Persian word for a royal falcon, and the bird carries a great deal of weight in Persian and Urdu poetry.
How old is the name Shaheen?
Shaheen first appears in US birth records in 1972 — 53 years ago. The typical Shaheen alive today was born around 1998, making them about 27 years old. About 600 people named Shaheen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shaheen most popular?
Shaheen peaked in 1985, reaching #2598 nationally. Today it ranks #4539, 1,941 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Where it comes from
From shahin to Shaheen
The story of Shaheen
The shaheen is a specific falcon and a fixed symbol in Persian and Urdu verse — Muhammad Iqbal used it repeatedly as a figure for a self-reliant soul that does not build nests or take from others, and the image became central to Urdu poetry of the twentieth century. The word also names the beam of a balance. It is used across Iran, Pakistan and the Arab world.
Meaning
royal falcon
From Persian shahin, a falcon, on shah, a king; the bird is the peregrine or a related large falcon, and the name means the king's bird. The word traveled into Urdu, Arabic and Turkish.
How the name formed
- shahin
- Shaheen
Related forms: Shahin · Shaheen · Shahin
Pronouncing Shaheen
shah-HEEN
Two syllables with the stress on the long second. English speakers often say SHAY-heen.
Nicknames for Shaheen
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
- 1972
- Most boys named
- 199023 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2598reached in 1985
- Change vs 2024
- +4.8%22 in 2025, from 21
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.
Shaheen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shahin in Persian — spelling variant
- Shaheen in Urdu — same name
- Shahin in Arabic — same name
Shaheens among us
people named Shaheen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 77,640 born in 2025 was named Shaheen
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 Lewin test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shaheen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lewin climbed just as high around 1920, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lewin's path sketches the road Shaheen is walking now.
Shaheen 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
Shaheen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shaheen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning with a genuinely powerful literary symbol behind it.
- Seven letters and two syllables, manageable to write.
- Recognized across Iran, Pakistan and the Arab world.
- It is used for both sexes in South Asia, so forms may guess wrong.
- The stress moves to the front in English mouths.
- Shaheen and Shahin are both in use and mark different regions.
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What they receive
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Shaheen
Masculine · #4539 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shaheens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Shaheen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shaheen in 2025?
- Shaheen ranks #4539 among US boy names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shaheen?
- About 1 in every 77,640 US boys born in 2025 was named Shaheen — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shaheen with classmates?
- Shaheen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shaheen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Nels#4539 · Gabe#4539 · Michel#4539 · Elroy#4539 · Orlin#4539 · Pearce#4539 · Josemaria#4539 · Napoleon#4539
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shaheen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shaheen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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