Siena
Feminine · “from Siena”
Siena is a city before it is a name — a red-brick town in Tuscany whose earth gave painters their raw and burnt sienna, so the word has been sitting in paintboxes and on artists' tongues for centuries. Said aloud it is three easy syllables with a bright middle, see-EN-uh, the same open shape English speakers already know from Sienna, Gianna and Ariana.
How old is the name Siena?
Siena first appears in US birth records in 1965 — 60 years ago. The typical Siena is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 11,000 people named Siena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Siena most popular?
Siena peaked in 2011, reaching #604 nationally. Today it ranks #610, 6 places below that high. See the whole 2011 chart.
Siena appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Saena Julia to Siena
The story of Siena
Siena is the Italian spelling of the Tuscan city, a Roman settlement that grew into one of medieval Europe's great banking and painting centers and still runs its Palio horse race around the shell-shaped Piazza del Campo. Its clay-rich earth was dug, ground and sold to painters across Europe, which is how the city's name entered English as a color rather than as a name for a person. The leap from place to given name is recent and happened mostly in English-speaking countries, where the doubled Sienna took hold alongside the Italian single-n form. Both spellings travel together, and both point back to the same hillside.
Meaning
from Siena, the city in Tuscany
What the city's own name means is a separate and unsettled question: it has been linked to the Etruscan family name Saina and to the Roman colony called Saena Julia, and neither reading has won. The English word sienna for the reddish-brown pigment comes from terra di Siena, earth of Siena.
How the name formed
- Saena Julia
- Siena
- Sienna
Related forms: Siena · Sienna · Sienne · Saena · Siena
Pronouncing Siena
see-EN-uh
In Italian the first syllable glides into one sound, closer to SYEH-nah. In American English the three-syllable see-EN-uh is standard; some readers try SEE-nuh on first sight, which usually needs one gentle correction.
Nicknames for Siena
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
- 1965
- Most girls named
- 2018496 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #604reached in 2011
- Change vs 2024
- +2.6%479 in 2025, from 467
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.
Siena in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Siena in Italian — same name
- Sienna in English — spelling variant
- Sienne in French — related form
- Saena in Latin — related form
- Siena in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Florida.
Sienas among us
people named Siena are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 3,355 born in 2025 was named Siena
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Siena
- #610
- Siena on the 2025 chart
- #87
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Siena went to 479 girls in 2025, but Sienna and Cienna are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 3,293, which makes it the 87th most-given girls’ name of the year — 523 places above the chart.
and 3 rarer spellings.
About 1 girl in 488 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 3,355 for Siena 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 Libby test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Siena's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Libby climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Libby's path sketches the road Siena is walking now.
Siena 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 Siena is headed
Siena should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Siena beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Siena in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Already familiar in English as a color word, so most people can spell some version of it after hearing it once.
- Pronounced almost identically in Italian, Spanish and English — it crosses borders without being reshaped.
- Ties to a real, well-documented place with a thousand years of history behind it, rather than to a coined spelling.
- Regular three-syllable rhythm that sits easily beside both short and long surnames.
- Sienna, with two n's, is the more common English spelling. Expect a lifetime of small corrections, and choose knowing that written forms will often come back doubled.
- The Toyota Sienna has been on American roads for decades. It is a mild, passing association rather than a real problem, but it exists.
- The name's use is genuinely recent, so there are few adult or elderly bearers to point to. A child named Siena will likely be the one who defines it for the people around her.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Siena
Feminine · #610 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sienas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 11,000 people named Siena are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Siena?
- Siena is one of 3 recorded spellings. Sienna is the more common one — 2,659 births in 2025 against 479 for Siena.
- How popular is the name Siena in 2025?
- Siena ranks #610 among US girl names in 2025, with 479 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Siena?
- About 1 in every 3,355 US girls born in 2025 was named Siena — 479 in all.
- Will my child share the name Siena with classmates?
- Siena will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Siena
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Leyla#611 · Halo#612 · Brinley#608 · Rosalia#608 · Estrella#612 · Flora#607 · Ariya#614 · Ari#614
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Siena? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Siena and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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