Shireen
Feminine · “Persian shirin”
Khosrow and Shirin is the other great Persian romance, and unlike most it has a historical core: Khosrow II ruled the Sasanian empire and Shirin was his Christian queen. Nizami turned them into a love story in 1177 and added Farhad, the stonecutter who moves a mountain for her.
How old is the name Shireen?
Shireen first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Shireen alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 1,300 people named Shireen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shireen most popular?
Shireen peaked in 1951, reaching #1505 nationally. Today it ranks #9457, 7,952 places below that high. See the whole 1951 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From shirin to Shireen
The story of Shireen
Khosrow II reigned from 590 to 628, the last great Sasanian king, and Shirin was his queen; both are historical and both appear in Byzantine and Armenian sources, where she is Christian. Nizami Ganjavi's poem of 1177 made them the center of a romance that became one of the most retold stories in Persian, Turkish and Urdu literature. Its most famous addition is Farhad, a stonecutter who also loves Shirin and is set the impossible task of cutting a channel through Mount Bisotun to win her; he is close to finishing when a false report of her death reaches him and he throws himself from the cliff. The rock reliefs at Bisotun, which are real and Achaemenid, are still shown as his work. Nizami's Shirin is one of the most fully drawn women in medieval Persian poetry, with agency the plot turns on.
Meaning
Persian shirin, sweet
Shireen is a transliteration of Persian shirin, meaning sweet, from shir, milk. It is the name of the queen in Nizami's romance Khosrow and Shirin and one of the standard Persian women's names. The doubled e writes the long vowel of the original. The American peak is 1951.
How the name formed
- shirin
- Shirin
- Shireen
Related forms: Shirin · Sirin · Shireen
Pronouncing Shireen
shee-REEN
Two syllables, stress on the second. Shirin and Shireen are the same name in two transliterations; the doubled e makes the long vowel unmistakable in English.
Nicknames for Shireen
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
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 198733 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1505reached in 1951
- Change vs 2023
- +66.7%10 in 2025, from 6
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.
Shireen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shirin in Persian — same name
- Sirin in Turkish — same name
- Shireen in Urdu — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Shireens among us
people named Shireen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 160,727 born in 2025 was named Shireen
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 Dorsey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shireen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dorsey climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dorsey's path sketches the road Shireen is walking now.
Shireen 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
Shireen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shireen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is a single clear and warm word.
- The stressed ending gives it a firm final beat.
- It carries one of the great Persian love stories.
- Shirin is the commoner transliteration.
- English speakers may stress the first syllable.
- It is unfamiliar outside Persian-speaking communities.
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What they receive
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Shireen
Feminine · #9457 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shireens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,300 people named Shireen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shireen in 2025?
- Shireen ranks #9457 among US girl names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shireen?
- About 1 in every 160,727 US girls born in 2025 was named Shireen — 10 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shireen with classmates?
- Shireen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shireen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leta#9457 · Inga#9457 · Delphia#9457 · Cammie#9457 · Lisandra#9457 · Amee#9457 · Venecia#9457 · Annetta#9457
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shireen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shireen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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