Shawn

What Shawn means

Means “God is gracious”

A variant of Sean, from Irish Seán, from Old French Jehan, from Latin Jōhannēs, variant of Iōannēs, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (yōḥānān, yokhanán, literally “God is gracious”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Shawn” (revision 94543458), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Shawn?

US: Falling: down from #351 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #1380 in 2015, #1307 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1973, when 11,451 boys got the name (#27 that year). First in the US records in 1931.

How common

• About 1 in 4,281 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 12,949 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DE (2.04 per 1,000 boys), MD (0.52 per 1,000 boys), KS (0.5 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Shawn is #681 in the US and #1307 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 96.8% of US babies named Shawn were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Shane439 US · 25 E&W
• Shaan64 US · 37 E&W
• Shaun79 US · 20 E&W
• Shayne32 US · 7 E&W
• Shon9 US
• Chan7 US
• Shain6 US
• Shayn5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Shawn

Boys

• Brian#339Same root as Brendan, meaning “prince, king”^*
• Ryan#99Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 29,905 babies; 3,532 in 2025
• Kevin#221“dear birth/person”^*
• Sean#489“God is gracious”^*
• Kenneth#294“handsome”^*
• Allen#578Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1951, with 5,179 babies; 507 in 2025

For a sister

• Jennifer#586Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1972, with 63,600 babies; 501 in 2025
• Megan#887Diminutive of Margaret, meaning “pearl”^*
• Bridget#724Editor’s note Down from #534 in 2015 to #724 in 2025 in the US
• Briana#661Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1994, with 5,000 babies; 431 in 2025
• Morgan#312Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #121 in 2015, #312 in 2025
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Shawn’s. Rank is US 2025.