Sian
Feminine · “God has been gracious”
Sian is given to both — 858 girls and 172 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Sian is a Welsh woman's name that in America goes mostly to boys. In Wales it is Sian, written with an accent, said SHAHN, and it is the Welsh form of Jane — which makes it one of the most thoroughly feminine names in the language. What has happened to it in the United States is a reversal, and it is worth knowing about before choosing.
How old is the name Sian?
Sian first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Sian alive today was born around 1999, making them about 26 years old. About 800 people named Sian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sian most popular?
Sian peaked in 1974, reaching #2616 nationally. Today it ranks #14942, 12,326 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Jehanne to Sian
The story of Sian
Welsh borrowed a great many names from Norman French and reshaped them to Welsh sound rules, which is where Sian, Sion, Gwenllian and Ifan all come from. Sian has been a standard Welsh woman's name for centuries. In the United States the accent does not survive American forms, and without it the name looks like an unfamiliar four-letter arrangement rather than a Welsh word — which appears to be why American families read it as a boy's name and use it that way. The wave is very recent, and it is going in a direction Wales would find surprising.
Meaning
God has been gracious
Welsh Sian comes from the French Jehanne, the feminine of Jean, which is John — so behind it is Hebrew Yohanan, God has shown favor. Welsh took the name from Norman French rather than from Latin, which is why it begins with an S sound rather than a J or an I, and the accent over the a marks a long vowel. The derivation is entirely settled. Sion, spelled with an o, is the Welsh form of John itself and belongs to men.
How the name formed
- Jehanne
- Siân
- Sian
Related forms: Siân · Siôn · Jeanne · Sinéad
Pronouncing Sian
SHAHN
SHAHN, one syllable, in Welsh — the si spells an sh sound and the accented a is long. American readers almost universally produce SEE-an or SIGH-an in two syllables, which is not the Welsh name at all but is what this spelling gets in the United States.
Nicknames for Sian
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 200635 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2616reached in 1974
- Change vs 2024
- −37.5%5 in 2025, from 8
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.
Sian in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Siân in Welsh — same name
- Siôn in Welsh — related form
- Jeanne in French — related form
- Sinéad in Irish — related form
Sians among us
people named Sian are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 321,453 born in 2025 was named Sian
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Sian
- #14942
- Sian on the 2025 chart
- #934
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Sian went to 5 girls in 2025, but Cyan is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 26, which makes it the 934th most-given girls’ name of the year — 14,008 places above the chart.
- Cyan21
- Sian5
About 1 girl in 61,818 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 321,453 for Sian 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 Pearlina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sian's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pearlina climbed just as high around 1925, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pearlina's path sketches the road Sian is walking now.
Sian 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
Sian beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sian in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is a genuine Welsh name with a documented history rather than an invented one.
- Four letters and, in Welsh, a single syllable, which fits any surname.
- It is unusual in America without being unfamiliar in sound once it is heard.
- In Wales this is unambiguously a woman's name, and Welsh speakers will read it that way whatever an American form says.
- Without the accent the spelling gives no guidance, so the name is said at least three ways in the United States.
- A girl given this name here will be read as a boy on American forms and as entirely ordinary in Wales, which is a genuinely odd position to be in.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Sian
Feminine · #14942 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sians are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Sian are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Sian?
- Sian is one of 2 recorded spellings. Cyan is the more common one — 21 births in 2025 against 5 for Sian.
- How popular is the name Sian in 2025?
- Sian ranks #14942 among US girl names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sian?
- About 1 in every 321,453 US girls born in 2025 was named Sian — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sian with classmates?
- Sian will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sian
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hester#14942 · Lyda#14942 · Zula#14942 · Zona#14942 · Ula#14942 · Belva#14942 · Lucetta#14942 · Leala#14942
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sian? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sian and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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