How popular is the baby name Sean in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Sean.

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Popularity of the baby name Sean


Posts that mention the name Sean

Which names are the most Scottish?

Scotland

Several years ago, UK marketing firm CACI came up with a way to quantify the “Scottishness” of a name.

They looked at tens of millions of forenames and surnames across the UK and asked: are these names more common in Scotland, or in England and Wales? Based on the answers, they calculated “Scottishness” scores for full names.

They set the average at 100. Names like Ewen McGregor (270) and David Cameron (153) scored higher (i.e. were more Scottish) than average. Names like Gordon Brown (95) and Sean Connery (34) scored lower.

Which full names were the most Scottish overall?

  1. Angusina MacEachen (284)
  2. Murdo MacRitchie (283)
  3. Murdina MacCorquodale (283)
  4. Williamina Killoh (283)
  5. Angusina MacIver (283)
  6. Mhairi Kimmet (283)
  7. Williamina Marnie (283)
  8. Williamina McCallie (283)
  9. Alexina Killoh (283)
  10. Eilidh McCorquodale (281)

I was surprised about Williamina and Alexina. I guess didn’t realize these two names were so distinctly Scottish. Both are rare here in the U.S.

Update, 3/22/16: Some incredibly Scottish names — Caledonia, Corryvreckan, Highlande — popped up on on birth certificates in Scotland in 2015.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Isle of Skye – Old Man of Storr by Sanshiro Kubota under CC BY 2.0.

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2010

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

Ireland recently released baby name data for 2010. Here are the top ten boy names and top ten girl names of last year (plus parenthetical comparisons to 2009 rankings).

Boy NamesGirl Names
1. Jack (same)
2. Sean (same)
3. Daniel (same)
4. James (up from 5th)
5. Conor (down from 4th)
6. Ryan (same)
7. Adam (same)
8. Alex (up from 9th)
9. Luke (up from 10th)
10. Dylan (up from 11th)		1. Sophie (same)
2. Emily (up from 6th)
3. Emma (same)
4. Sarah (same)
5. Lucy (up from 8th)
6. Ava (down from 2nd)
7. Grace (down from 5th)
8. Chloe (up from 10th)
9. Katie (down from 7th)
10. Aoife (down from 9th)

The one name that fell out of the boys’ top ten is Michael (now 12th).

The top 100 lists have seven new entries overall — four boy names (Tyler, Sebastian, Daithí, Alfie) and three girl names (Lilly, Sofia, Lena).

The boy names that saw the greatest popularity increases from 2009 to 2010 in terms of rank were Tyler, Sebastian, Jacob, Daithí* and Shay, and in terms of number were Noah, Ethan, Charlie, Harry and Jake.

The girl names that saw the greatest popularity increases from 2009 to 2010 in terms of rank were Alicia, Sofia, Lena, Lilly and Daisy, and in terms of number were Emily, Saoirse, Olivia, Sophia and Lucy.

*Daithí, pronounced DAH-hee, is a form of Dáithí, which is thought to mean “swift” in Irish Gaelic. The sudden interest in the name may have been sparked by the TV appearances of young Irish fiddler Daithí Ó Drónaí, who was on The All Ireland Talent Show in 2009 and Must Be The Music in 2010.

Sources: CSO, Jack, Sophie top baby names in 2010, Jack and Sophie, you’re top of the roll-call

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2009

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

These were the most popular baby names last year in the Republic of Ireland…

Girl Names

  1. Sophie
  2. Ava
  3. Emma
  4. Sarah
  5. Grace

Boy Names

  1. Jack
  2. Sean
  3. Daniel
  4. Conor
  5. James

A total of 4,816 girl names and 3,924 boy names were handed out, but most Irish babies (56.5% of girls, 65.0% of boys) were given names in the top 100.

Perhaps the most interesting baby-naming trend in Ireland right now is the number of Polish names (e.g., Filip, Kacper, Oliwia, Patryk, Szymon, Zuzanna) popping up in the top 100. Poland joined the EU in mid-2004, and well over one hundred thousand Poles have migrated to Ireland since then.

Sources: Central Statistics Office of Ireland, Jack and Sophie top baby names, Warsaw On The Thames

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)

Popular baby names in New York City, 2007

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

According to New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the most popular baby names in the city last year were Isabella/Sophia (tied) and Daniel.

Here are New York City’s top 50+ girl names and top 50+ boy names of 2007:

Girl names

  1. Isabella, 539 baby girls (tie)
  2. Sophia, 539 (tie)
  3. Emily, 525
  4. Ashley, 480
  5. Sarah, 425
  6. Kayla, 414
  7. Mia, 381
  8. Olivia, 375
  9. Samantha, 368
  10. Rachel, 359
  11. Madison, 345
  12. Ava, 330
  13. Brianna, 316
  14. Emma, 286
  15. Sofia, 276
  16. Abigail, 272 (tie)
  17. Chloe, 272 (tie)
  18. Angelina, 265 (tie)
  19. Victoria, 265 (tie)
  20. Elizabeth, 261 (tie)
  21. Leah, 261 (tie)
  22. Nicole, 250
  23. Julia, 249
  24. Alexandra, 247
  25. Esther, 244
  26. Michelle, 234 (tie)
  27. Sara, 234 (tie)
  28. Alyssa, 231
  29. Maya, 227
  30. Gabriella, 223
  31. Jessica, 216
  32. Hannah, 202
  33. Arianna, 186
  34. Chaya, 184
  35. Ella, 182
  36. Anna, 179
  37. Katherine, 177
  38. Melanie, 176
  39. Natalie, 175
  40. Jada, 174
  41. Jasmine, 169 (tie)
  42. Sophie, 169 (tie)
  43. Miriam, 168
  44. Jennifer, 167
  45. Amanda, 164
  46. Grace, 160
  47. Zoe, 158
  48. Alexa, 156 (tie)
  49. Hailey, 156 (tie)
  50. Ariana, 154 (tie)
  51. Maria, 154 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Daniel, 865 baby boys
  2. Jayden, 846
  3. Michael, 801
  4. Matthew, 778
  5. Justin, 738
  6. Joshua, 719
  7. David, 705
  8. Anthony, 664
  9. Christopher, 652
  10. Joseph, 617
  11. Ryan, 576
  12. Ethan, 524
  13. Alexander, 503
  14. Kevin, 496
  15. Jacob, 474
  16. Brandon, 463
  17. Nicholas, 458
  18. Jonathan, 452
  19. John, 448
  20. Christian, 445
  21. William, 435
  22. Andrew, 424
  23. Jason, 414
  24. James, 377
  25. Elijah, 359
  26. Angel, 357
  27. Benjamin, 350
  28. Dylan, 347
  29. Samuel, 343
  30. Aaron, 334
  31. Gabriel, 327
  32. Eric, 301 (tie)
  33. Jaden, 301 (tie)
  34. Brian, 283
  35. Jack, 282
  36. Tyler, 276
  37. Noah, 269
  38. Jordan, 265
  39. Luis, 264
  40. Sebastian, 260
  41. Jose, 249
  42. Sean, 247
  43. Adam, 243
  44. Jeremiah, 242
  45. Henry, 239
  46. Isaiah, 238
  47. Thomas, 234
  48. Xavier, 232
  49. Bryan, 230
  50. Aidan, 228 (tie)
  51. Aiden, 228 (tie)

Jayden jumped from 10th place in 2006 to 2nd place in 2007, impressively.

If all the different spellings of Jayden (e.g., Jaden, Jaiden, Jadon, Jaeden, Jaydon, Jaidyn, Jaydan, Jaydin) had been counted together, in fact, the entire name-group would have easily overtaken Daniel with a grand total of more than 1,340 baby boys.

The top baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…

Top girl namesTop boy names
Hispanic1. Ashley, 310
2. Isabella, 237
3. Emily, 220
4. Mia, 199
5. Brianna, 163		1. Jayden, 423
2. Justin, 369
3. Christopher, 338
4. Angel, 326
5. Anthony, 302
Asian1. Sophia, 151
2. Emily, 120
3. Chloe, 97
4. Tiffany, 86
5. Angela, 74		1. Ryan, 230
2. Matthew, 156
3. Daniel, 145 (tie)
4. Kevin, 145 (tie)
5. Eric, 137
White, non-Hispanic1. Sarah, 258
2. Rachel, 236
3. Sophia, 229
4. Olivia, 224
5. Ava, 214		1. Michael, 373
2. Joseph, 345
3. Daniel, 324
4. David, 269
5. Matthew, 261
Black, non-Hispanic1. Madison, 158
2. Kayla, 156
3. Jada, 108
4. Brianna, 97
5. Nevaeh, 84		1. Jayden, 311
2. Joshua, 216
3. Elijah, 185
4. Jaden, 155
5. Justin, 147

Among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Binta, Djeneba, Fraida, Rowan, and Suki, and the boy names Aditya, Karim, Milton, Shimshon, and Wolf.

One year earlier, in 2006, NYC’s top names (overall) were Ashley and Michael.

Source: Popular Baby Names – NYC.gov (pdf)

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

[Latest update: Jan. 2026]