Sian
Sian is given to both girls and boys: 5 girls and 26 boys were given it in 2025 (#16,921 among girls’ names and #4,122 among boys’, #7,855 among all names counting both); 1,030 Americans have been recorded with it since 1962 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,000 Americans named Sian and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 13 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sian by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sian mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sian is “a female given name from Welsh [in turn from Hebrew].” Its etymology gives the sense “God is gracious” (literally).
An anglicization of Welsh Siân, ultimately from Latin Joanna, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννα (Iōánna), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָה (Yôḥānāh, literally “God is gracious”), the feminized form of יְהוֹחָנָן (Yəhōḥānān) which produced John and its many doublets. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Siobhan, Shane, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena.
/ʃɑn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sian?
#16,921 among girls’ names, 2025
Sian fell from #9,408 in 2015 to #16,921 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 6.7 to 3.1 per million.
36 babies in 2002, the peak
Sian peaked in 2002, when 36 babies were given it (28 girls, #4,483 among girls’ names). The 31 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 86% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #16,921 | 26 | #4,122 |
| 2024 | 8 | #12,003 | 9 | #8,878 |
| 2023 | 6 | #14,925 | 13 | #6,838 |
| 2022 | 12 | #8,972 | 11 | #7,682 |
| 2021 | 7 | #13,283 | 14 | #6,293 |
| 2020 | 15 | #7,517 | 12 | #6,978 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,535 | 8 | #9,611 |
| 2018 | 8 | #12,325 | 8 | #9,530 |
| 2017 | 12 | #9,269 | 7 | #10,597 |
| 2016 | 11 | #10,016 | 9 | #8,700 |
Every recorded year (62)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 12 | #9,408 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 11 | #10,056 | 5 | #13,757 |
| 2013 | 11 | #10,149 | under 5 | |
| 2012 | 7 | #14,761 | 5 | #13,911 |
| 2011 | 21 | #6,305 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 6 | #16,684 | 6 | #11,974 |
| 2009 | 18 | #7,300 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 29 | #5,121 | 7 | #10,852 |
| 2007 | 23 | #6,053 | 6 | #12,135 |
| 2006 | 35 | #4,251 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 29 | #4,683 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 24 | #5,355 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 23 | #5,387 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 28 | #4,483 | 8 | #8,323 |
| 2001 | 25 | #4,813 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 16 | #6,756 | 6 | #10,160 |
| 1999 | 21 | #5,184 | 6 | #9,723 |
| 1998 | 27 | #4,220 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 15 | #6,444 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 11 | #8,047 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 11 | #8,005 | 6 | #8,722 |
| 1994 | 11 | #8,055 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 9 | #9,424 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 16 | #5,965 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 11 | #7,903 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 12 | #7,240 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 15 | #5,798 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 10 | #7,602 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,274 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 9 | #7,672 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 11 | #6,402 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 8 | #8,045 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 12 | #5,777 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 6 | #10,317 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 8 | #8,033 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 10 | #6,710 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 10 | #6,628 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 9 | #6,863 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 11 | #5,835 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 16 | #4,126 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 17 | #3,918 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 28 | #2,675 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 24 | #2,905 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,416 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 7 | #6,958 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 16 | #3,597 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,925 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 15 | #3,382 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 13 | #3,711 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 7 | #5,924 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,228 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 5 | #7,432 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Sian a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,030 Americans recorded as Sian, 83% are girls and 17% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Sian: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sian, and how old are they?
1,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,030 Americans ever recorded as Sian. The median Sian alive today is 24 years old; half are between 13 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 1,525 people named Sian (1,217 women and girls, 308 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 879 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.7 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 17 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 177 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 171 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 386 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 251 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 4 names spelled alike, given to 1,481 babies since 1880, Sian is the most given (70% of them). In 2025 it was given to 31 of their 31 babies (100%), 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 Sian
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1960-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Azure | 2,127 |
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 Sian and names like it
- Compare Sian and SyannBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sSian peaked in 2002.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sian since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Sian: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2002The year the most babies were named Sian.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Sian alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.