Shaun
Shaun was given to 79 boys in 2025, #1,956 among boys’ names; 73,610 Americans have been recorded with it since 1935 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 68,000 Americans named Shaun and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 44 years old and half are between 34 and 48.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shaun by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shaun mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shaun is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the sense “God is gracious” (literally).
Also “a female given name from Irish.”
A variant of Sean, from 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, Sean, Shawn, Shane, and Giovanni as a male name. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shane, Shauna, and Sheena as a female name.
/ʃɔːn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shaun?
#1,956 among boys’ names, 2025
Shaun fell from #768 in 2015 to #1,956 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.16 to 0.05 per 1,000.
6,221 babies in 1978, the peak
Shaun peaked in 1978, when 6,221 babies were given it (6,105 boys, #52 among boys’ names). The 79 births of 2025 are 1% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79 | #1,956 | 0.05 |
| 2024 | 111 | #1,571 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 120 | #1,495 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 122 | #1,489 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 149 | #1,279 | 0.09 |
| 2020 | 172 | #1,138 | 0.10 |
| 2019 | 193 | #1,062 | 0.11 |
| 2018 | 206 | #1,008 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 243 | #889 | 0.13 |
| 2016 | 250 | #877 | 0.13 |
Every recorded year (91)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 311 | #768 | 0.16 |
| 2014 | 325 | #737 | 0.17 |
| 2013 | 331 | #713 | 0.17 |
| 2012 | 391 | #623 | 0.21 |
| 2011 | 428 | #587 | 0.23 |
| 2010 | 541 | #483 | 0.28 |
| 2009 | 554 | #495 | 0.28 |
| 2008 | 672 | #432 | 0.33 |
| 2007 | 770 | #393 | 0.37 |
| 2006 | 905 | #342 | 0.44 |
| 2005 | 722 | #397 | 0.36 |
| 2004 | 660 | #398 | 0.33 |
| 2003 | 687 | #381 | 0.35 |
| 2002 | 635 | #401 | 0.33 |
| 2001 | 654 | #390 | 0.34 |
| 2000 | 751 | #355 | 0.38 |
| 1999 | 687 | #378 | 0.36 |
| 1998 | 692 | #370 | 0.36 |
| 1997 | 630 | #384 | 0.33 |
| 1996 | 646 | #371 | 0.34 |
| 1995 | 710 | #347 | 0.37 |
| 1994 | 779 | #324 | 0.40 |
| 1993 | 948 | #293 | 0.48 |
| 1992 | 988 | #288 | 0.49 |
| 1991 | 1,187 | #238 | 0.59 |
| 1990 | 1,354 | #225 | 0.66 |
| 1989 | 1,388 | #207 | 0.69 |
| 1988 | 1,657 | #169 | 0.87 |
| 1987 | 1,828 | #152 | 1.0 |
| 1986 | 2,066 | #132 | 1.1 |
| 1985 | 2,354 | #120 | 1.3 |
| 1984 | 2,251 | #121 | 1.2 |
| 1983 | 2,466 | #111 | 1.4 |
| 1982 | 3,154 | #96 | 1.7 |
| 1981 | 3,383 | #86 | 1.9 |
| 1980 | 3,923 | #79 | 2.2 |
| 1979 | 4,736 | #64 | 2.8 |
| 1978 | 6,105 | #52 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 2,578 | #103 | 1.6 |
| 1976 | 625 | #296 | 0.40 |
| 1975 | 699 | #275 | 0.45 |
| 1974 | 802 | #250 | 0.51 |
| 1973 | 749 | #259 | 0.48 |
| 1972 | 948 | #226 | 0.58 |
| 1971 | 1,086 | #216 | 0.61 |
| 1970 | 989 | #240 | 0.53 |
| 1969 | 880 | #246 | 0.49 |
| 1968 | 851 | #244 | 0.49 |
| 1967 | 724 | #271 | 0.42 |
| 1966 | 585 | #308 | 0.33 |
| 1965 | 555 | #322 | 0.30 |
| 1964 | 574 | #327 | 0.29 |
| 1963 | 478 | #355 | 0.24 |
| 1962 | 387 | #408 | 0.19 |
| 1961 | 287 | #475 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 238 | #514 | 0.11 |
| 1959 | 270 | #476 | 0.13 |
| 1958 | 189 | #562 | 0.09 |
| 1957 | 207 | #540 | 0.10 |
| 1956 | 142 | #636 | 0.07 |
| 1955 | 117 | #676 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 101 | #720 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 73 | #846 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 46 | #1,078 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 36 | #1,238 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 58 | #902 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 32 | #1,293 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 30 | #1,343 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 33 | #1,290 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 37 | #1,153 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 15 | #1,843 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 21 | #1,519 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 21 | #1,571 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 17 | #1,791 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 14 | #1,984 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 10 | #2,458 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,525 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 8 | #2,836 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 13 | #2,077 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 14 | #1,952 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,914 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Shaun a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 73,610 Americans recorded as Shaun, 4% are girls and 96% boys. In 2025 it went to 79 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shaun: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shaun, and how old are they?
68,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 73,610 Americans ever recorded as Shaun. The median Shaun alive today is 44 years old; half are between 34 and 48.
The 2020 Census counted 64,418 people named Shaun (2,674 women and girls, 61,744 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 68,794 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 | 52 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,160 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 25,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 26,200 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10,400 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,630 |
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 Shaun born?
The states with the most babies named Shaun are California, New York and Ohio, with 24% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 7,699 | #1,805 | 0.9× |
| New York | 5,272 | #2,000 | 1.0× |
| Ohio | 3,669 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 3,625 | #2,897 | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 3,458 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 3,368 | #1,453 | 0.9× |
| Florida | 3,004 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 2,966 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Massachusetts | 2,713 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| New Jersey | 2,279 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Shaun is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shaun is most over-represented in Hawaii: since 1935 it was given 1.6 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 Shaun 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 423,351 babies since 1880, Shaun is the second most given (17% of them). In 2025 it was given to 79 of their 633 babies (12%), again the second 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 Shaun
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1930-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Christoper | 3,161 | |
| Antione | 4,880 | |
| Christopher | 2,079,103 | |
| Jeremy | 448,737 | |
| Jarrod | 25,351 | |
| Chadd | 2,456 |
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 Shaun and names like it
- Compare Shaun and ShawnBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShaun peaked in 1978.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shaun since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Shaun: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Shaun.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shaun alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.