Shannon
Masculine · “old river”
Shannon is given to both — 52,379 boys and 295,782 girls since 1880. See Shannon as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Shannon for a son is the older use. Ireland's longest river is named for a goddess who went to a forbidden well of knowledge, and the water rose and carried her away — and became the river.
How old is the name Shannon?
Shannon first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Shannon alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 46,500 people named Shannon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shannon most popular?
Shannon peaked in 1972, reaching #94 nationally. Today it ranks #2991, 2,897 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Shannon appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Sionainn to Shannon
The story of Shannon
The Shannon is the longest river in Ireland or Britain, and the story of Sinann and the well of Segais is told in the medieval place-lore collections that explain Irish topography through myth. Irish place names became American given names in the twentieth century, first for boys and then decisively for girls. Masculine Shannon peaked in the mid-1970s, just as the feminine use was overtaking it.
Meaningscholars disagree
old river; wise one
From the Irish Sionainn, the river's name, generally read as containing sen, 'old' or 'ancient'. The legendary Sinann, granddaughter of a sea god, gives her name to it, and her story ties the name to knowledge and to the well of wisdom. Which came first is not recoverable.
How the name formed
- Sionainn
- Shannon
Related forms: Sionainn · Shanon
Pronouncing Shannon
SHAN-un
Two syllables, stress on the first. Said identically whichever sex carries it.
Nicknames for Shannon
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
- 1881
- Most boys named
- 19713,008 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #94reached in 1972
- Change vs 2023
- −4.7%41 in 2025, from 43
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.
Shannon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sionainn in Irish — related form
- Shanon in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Georgia, Ohio.
Shannons among us
people named Shannon are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 41,660 born in 2025 was named Shannon
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 Maurice test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shannon's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Maurice climbed just as high around 1914, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Maurice's path sketches the road Shannon is walking now.
Shannon 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
Where Shannon is headed
Shannon should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Shannon beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shannon in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real river with a documented mythology attached, which is an unusually good story to carry.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk in English.
- It has a genuine masculine record, not merely a theoretical one.
- In America the name now reads as feminine to nearly everyone.
- It is closely dated to the 1970s in its masculine use.
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What they receive
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Shannon
Masculine · #2991 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shannons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 46,500 people named Shannon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shannon in 2025?
- Shannon ranks #2991 among US boy names in 2025, with 41 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shannon?
- About 1 in every 41,660 US boys born in 2025 was named Shannon — 41 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shannon with classmates?
- Shannon will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shannon
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Roran#2991 · Izaak#2991 · Nyle#2991 · Levin#2991 · Tilden#2991 · Hanson#2991 · Breck#2991 · Oswaldo#2991
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shannon? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shannon and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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