Sean

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Shaun in ZA South Africa, SG Singapore, MY Malaysia, שון in IL Israel, FR France and Schön in DE Germany.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 19 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Sean is also recorded as 9 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name108K records spelled Sean5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland

  Also written Seán, Séan, Seãn, Seân

• French given name46K records spelled Sean11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Séan, Seàn, Seân, Sëän, Séàn

• Khmer given name37K records spelled Sean3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Vietnam, Ireland

  Languages: Khmer, Vietnamese

  Also written Seán

• Hindi given name33K records spelled Sean39 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Canada

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Bangla

  Also written Shuna, Shunu, Shon, Shun, Shuno

• Swahili given name19K records spelled Sean4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, South Africa, United Kingdom, Canada

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Séan, Seán

• Indonesian given name15K records spelled Sean4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Seán, Séan

• Thai given name9.5K records spelled Sean21 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Thailand, United Kingdom, Ireland

  Languages: Thai, Lao

  Also written Sian, เซียน, เซี้ยน, เซี่ยน, Seán

• Finnish given name6.9K records spelled Sean8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Hungary, United Kingdom

  Languages: Finnish, Hungarian, Estonian

  Also written Seán, Séan

• Greek given name5.9K records spelled Sean11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Shawn, Sohn, SoN, Sồn, Seàn

77 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Sean is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• Irish Gaelic form of John, pronounced ‘shawn’. It was derived in the early Middle Ages from Anglo-Norman Jehan. The name has always been common in Ireland, but is now also being increasingly chosen (usually without the accent) by parents who have no Irish connections. One influence on its popularity has been the actor Sean Connery (born 1930), of James Bond fame.

  as a name·A concise dictionary of first names

• In English, Dated form of seine.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In Swedish, Sean är den iriska formen av → John. En känd namnbärare är den brittiske skådespelaren Sean Connery (1930–2020).

  as a name·Förnamn i Sverige. Kortfattat namnlexikon

• In Irish, Forme irlandaise de Jean; origine hébraïque, signifie « Dieu a fait grâce ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, Irlandais, forme de John; hébreu Yôḥanan « Dieu fait grâce ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 97 years between 1925–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Seán MacBrideb. 1904FRIrish politician and human rights activist (1904-1988)
• Sean Conneryb. 1930GBScottish actor (1930–2020)
• Sean Beanb. 1959GBBritish actor (born 1959)
• Sean Pennb. 1960USAmerican actor
• Sean Pertweeb. 1964GBEnglish actor and voice over artist
• Sean Harrisb. 1966GBBritish actor (born 1966)
• Robert Sean Leonardb. 1969USAmerican actor
• Sean Combsb. 1969USAmerican rapper and producer
• Sean Astinb. 1971USAmerican actor (born 1971)
• Sean Paul Henriquesb. 1973JMJamaican dancehall singer and rapper (born 1973)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,252 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Sean?

We estimate roughly 381 thousand people bear Sean (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Sean have the most bearers?

Sean is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled sean.

How common is Sean compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Sean is the 80th most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Sean a male or female name?

Sean is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Sean mean?

Recorded meaning: Irish form of John; earlier form Eoin from Latin Johannes.