Sean
Sean was given to 616 boys in 2025, #489 among boys’ names; 426,606 Americans have been recorded with it since 1925 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 397,000 Americans named Sean and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 38 years old and half are between 28 and 50.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sean by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sean mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sean is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the sense “God is gracious” (literally).
Anglicised form of Irish Seán, from Old French Jehan, from Latin Johannes, variant of Ioannes, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, literally “God is gracious”). Doublet of John, Jack, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Ian, Evan, Ivan, Shaun, Shane, and Giovanni.
/ʃɔːn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sean?
#489 among boys’ names, 2025
Sean fell from #210 in 2015 to #489 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 1.0 to 0.36 per 1,000.
12,070 babies in 1990, the peak
Sean peaked in 1990, when 12,070 babies were given it (12,018 boys, #37 among boys’ names). The 623 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 5% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 616 | #489 | 0.36 |
| 2024 | 730 | #435 | 0.42 |
| 2023 | 741 | #427 | 0.43 |
| 2022 | 803 | #397 | 0.46 |
| 2021 | 900 | #362 | 0.51 |
| 2020 | 976 | #334 | 0.57 |
| 2019 | 1,128 | #301 | 0.63 |
| 2018 | 1,325 | #268 | 0.73 |
| 2017 | 1,481 | #251 | 0.80 |
| 2016 | 1,671 | #234 | 0.88 |
Every recorded year (97)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,895 | #210 | 1.0 |
| 2014 | 2,125 | #193 | 1.1 |
| 2013 | 2,203 | #185 | 1.2 |
| 2012 | 2,777 | #145 | 1.5 |
| 2011 | 3,192 | #125 | 1.7 |
| 2010 | 3,743 | #102 | 2.0 |
| 2009 | 4,339 | #97 | 2.2 |
| 2008 | 5,471 | #83 | 2.7 |
| 2007 | 6,244 | #76 | 3.0 |
| 2006 | 6,643 | #68 | 3.2 |
| 2005 | 5,997 | #75 | 3.0 |
| 2004 | 6,769 | #64 | 3.4 |
| 2003 | 7,102 | #61 | 3.6 |
| 2002 | 7,028 | #59 | 3.6 |
| 2001 | 7,224 | #57 | 3.7 |
| 2000 | 7,316 | #57 | 3.7 |
| 1999 | 7,205 | #56 | 3.8 |
| 1998 | 7,712 | #50 | 4.0 |
| 1997 | 7,744 | #48 | 4.1 |
| 1996 | 7,896 | #46 | 4.2 |
| 1995 | 8,167 | #45 | 4.3 |
| 1994 | 8,838 | #44 | 4.6 |
| 1993 | 10,176 | #42 | 5.2 |
| 1992 | 11,065 | #42 | 5.5 |
| 1991 | 11,182 | #40 | 5.5 |
| 1990 | 12,018 | #37 | 5.9 |
| 1989 | 11,895 | #39 | 5.9 |
| 1988 | 11,794 | #38 | 6.2 |
| 1987 | 11,455 | #40 | 6.1 |
| 1986 | 11,784 | #37 | 6.4 |
| 1985 | 11,455 | #38 | 6.2 |
| 1984 | 10,024 | #43 | 5.6 |
| 1983 | 9,615 | #44 | 5.4 |
| 1982 | 9,359 | #44 | 5.2 |
| 1981 | 8,893 | #44 | 5.0 |
| 1980 | 7,596 | #48 | 4.3 |
| 1979 | 6,850 | #49 | 4.0 |
| 1978 | 7,059 | #45 | 4.3 |
| 1977 | 7,625 | #43 | 4.6 |
| 1976 | 7,565 | #42 | 4.8 |
| 1975 | 7,582 | #40 | 4.9 |
| 1974 | 8,290 | #37 | 5.3 |
| 1973 | 8,553 | #36 | 5.5 |
| 1972 | 9,444 | #33 | 5.8 |
| 1971 | 10,510 | #36 | 5.9 |
| 1970 | 10,341 | #37 | 5.6 |
| 1969 | 9,346 | #37 | 5.2 |
| 1968 | 9,172 | #37 | 5.3 |
| 1967 | 7,496 | #44 | 4.3 |
| 1966 | 6,490 | #50 | 3.6 |
| 1965 | 4,594 | #79 | 2.5 |
| 1964 | 3,010 | #118 | 1.5 |
| 1963 | 2,196 | #151 | 1.1 |
| 1962 | 1,837 | #171 | 0.89 |
| 1961 | 1,720 | #177 | 0.81 |
| 1960 | 1,421 | #202 | 0.67 |
| 1959 | 1,279 | #219 | 0.60 |
| 1958 | 1,011 | #249 | 0.48 |
| 1957 | 775 | #271 | 0.36 |
| 1956 | 575 | #309 | 0.27 |
| 1955 | 488 | #335 | 0.24 |
| 1954 | 416 | #351 | 0.20 |
| 1953 | 380 | #355 | 0.19 |
| 1952 | 212 | #482 | 0.11 |
| 1951 | 154 | #550 | 0.08 |
| 1950 | 162 | #535 | 0.09 |
| 1949 | 129 | #602 | 0.07 |
| 1948 | 120 | #619 | 0.07 |
| 1947 | 97 | #704 | 0.05 |
| 1946 | 55 | #895 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 50 | #912 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 47 | #945 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 48 | #978 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 45 | #1,002 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 33 | #1,168 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 35 | #1,128 | 0.03 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,571 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,680 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,075 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,159 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 12 | #2,230 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 8 | #2,926 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,236 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #4,208 | under 0.01 |
| 1930 | 7 | #3,539 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 5 | #4,733 | under 0.01 |
| 1925 | 7 | #3,683 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Sean a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sean has been given almost only to boys: 2,969 girls in 97 years of records.
Girls and boys named Sean: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sean, and how old are they?
397,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 426,606 Americans ever recorded as Sean. The median Sean alive today is 38 years old; half are between 28 and 50.
The 2020 Census counted 377,127 people named Sean (2,082 women and girls, 375,045 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 400,554 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 116 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 12,200 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 114,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 158,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 95,200 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 16,500 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Sean born?
The states with the most babies named Sean are California, New York and Texas, with 26% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 60 | #518 | 1.1× |
| New York | 52 | #342 | 1.4× |
| Texas | 39 | #719 | 0.6× |
| Florida | 34 | #528 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 31 | #291 | 1.6× |
| Massachusetts | 26 | #237 | 1.9× |
| North Carolina | 26 | #428 | 0.6× |
| Virginia | 24 | #347 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 22 | #476 | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 22 | #406 | 0.9× |
Where Sean is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sean is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1925 it was given 1.9 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Sean with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 846,626 babies since 1880, Sean is the most given (50% of them). In 2025 it was given to 623 of their 1,153 babies (54%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Sean
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Sean and names like it
- Compare Sean and ShawnBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sSean peaked in 1990.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sean since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Sean: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1990The year the most babies were named Sean.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Sean alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.