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Sinead

Feminine · “Hebrew Yochanan”

1975high 1990
#8860 in the U.S.given to only a few children a year
rare11 girls in 2025

Sinead is the Irish form of Jeanette, which is French. Norman French brought Jeanne to Ireland, Irish borrowed it as Sine, and added its own diminutive ending. The name is therefore Hebrew by way of Greek, Latin, French, and finally Irish grammar.

How old is the name Sinead?

Sinead first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Sinead alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 1,300 people named Sinead are estimated to be alive in the US today.

When was the name Sinead most popular?

Sinead peaked in 1990, reaching #1095 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 7,765 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.

Compare this nameMore “S” names

Lists built from the same records:

I

Where it comes from

The story of Sinead

Sinead O'Connor's version of Nothing Compares 2 U was released in January 1990, reached number one in the United States in April, and stayed there for four weeks. The American name curve peaks that same year. Irish names generally enter American use through a slow diffusion in which the spelling is simplified over a decade or two, but this one arrived through a single person and arrived with its spelling intact, which is why the fada survives on American paperwork at all. What usually happens to an Irish accent in the United States is that it is dropped by the recording system rather than the family, and the name then loses information: without the fada, the spelling invites the reading SIN-ee-ad rather than shi-NAYD. That gap between what the spelling shows and what English readers do with it is the main practical fact about the name.

Meaning

Hebrew Yochanan, Yah is gracious

Sinead is Irish for Jeanette or Janet, built from Sine, the Irish form of French Jeanne, plus a diminutive suffix, an Irish counterpart of the French -ette. Jeanne descends from Latin Johanna and Hebrew Yochanan, Yah is gracious. The fada, the acute accent on the e in the Irish spelling, marks a long vowel and is not decorative; without it the spelling technically indicates a different sound. The American peak is 1990.

How the name formed

  1. Yochanan
  2. Johanna
  3. Jeanne
  4. Sine
  5. Sinead

Related forms: Sinead · Jeanette · Janet · Seonaid

Pronouncing Sinead

shi-NAYD

Two syllables, stress on the second. Irish s before a slender vowel is said sh, which is why the name begins with a sh sound. The fada marks the long a in the second syllable.

Nicknames for Sinead

Moderate

SineThe stem before the diminutive, said SHEE-nuh
NadeThe stressed second syllable used alone
II

What the data says

The long climb, and where it stands now

GIRLS NAMED · 1975–20251608001601119752025

US babies named Sinead per year from 1975 to 2025
AVERAGE RANK BY DECADE#1#10#100#1000#10951970s2020s

The same years in position rather than babies

First recorded
1975
Most girls named
1990160 — the highest on record
Peak rank
#1095reached in 1990
Change vs 2024
−15.4%11 in 2025, from 13
Sinead sits in the rare tail. Its best year on record was 1990, with 160 girls. Today it is given to few enough children that it does not enter the ranked charts at all.

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.

Sinead in other languages

The same name elsewhere

  • Sinead in Irish — same name
  • Jeanette in French — same name
  • Janet in English — same name
  • Seonaid in Scottish Gaelic — related form

Sineads among us

1,300

people named Sinead are estimated to be alive in the US today

About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Sinead

Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method

III

Is it right for you

The Julee test

Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sinead's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Julee climbed just as high around 1958, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Julee's path sketches the road Sinead is walking now.

40%chance Sinead will feel dated by 2040
Sinead, aligned on its peakJulee· peak 1958not yet written
#1#10#100#1000peak-20 yrs+70 yrsJulee · #11273Sinead today
Sinead today is about where Julee stood in 1993 — 35 years past a #1095-sized peak. By 2008, Julee had settled around #7435.
Ages quietlysteadyDates fast

Sinead 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

Sinead beside its neighbors

The names ranked closest to Sinead in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.

Sineadthis name11#8860Lida11#8860Lauretta11#8860Dot11#8860Bonita11#8860

US girls given each name in 2025.

The trade-off

Practical strengths
  • It is a complete Irish name with a fully documented history.
  • The stressed ending gives it a strong final beat.
  • The pronunciation is widely known in English-speaking countries.
What to consider
  • The spelling gives no hint of the sh sound to English readers.
  • The fada is dropped by many American recording systems.
  • The 1990 peak ties it closely to one singer.

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Sinead

Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.

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Frequently asked

How many Sineads 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 Sinead are estimated to be alive in the US today.
How popular is the name Sinead in 2025?
Sinead ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
How rare is the name Sinead?
About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Sinead — 11 in all.
Will my child share the name Sinead with classmates?
Sinead will almost certainly be the only one in school.

Ranked beside Sinead

Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.

Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860

Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sinead? See the current top 100.

Choosing between Sinead and another name?

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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology

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