Shaun
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Meaning
variant of Sean, God is gracious
The story
Shaun is the Irish John dressed in phonetic English: Seán, itself the Irish form of John, God is gracious, spelled the way it sounds. Along with Sean and Shawn, it rode the great twentieth-century wave of Irish names in America, arriving later than most and climbing quickly to its strongest run in the 1970s and 80s. That timing means its most famous bearer wore a name of his own generation: Shaun White, born in 1986, the red-haired snowboarder who took halfpipe gold at three Olympics and pulled his sport into the American mainstream almost single-handedly. The name has eased since, as Liam and Declan took over Irish duty in the nurseries, but Shaun still reads exactly as it always has: friendly, quick, and a little windblown, a name that sounds like it is already outside.
How popular is Shaun around the world?
In the United States, 768 babies were named Shaun between 2020 and 2025. In Ireland, 5 boys named Shaun were born in 2025, the 577th most common name among boys that year.
Shaun is on the official records of the United States, Ireland, Scotland, South Australia, England and Wales, Canada, France, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 28,000
In the United States, 768 babies were named Shaun between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Shaun peaked in the 1980s.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Ireland
1 in 11,000
In Ireland, 5 boys named Shaun were born in 2025, the 577th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Scotland
1 in 15,000
In Scotland, 3 boys named Shaun were registered in 2024, the 727th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 18,0002017
In South Australia, 1 boy was registered as Shaun in 2017.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 29,000
In England and Wales, 20 boys named Shaun were born in 2025, ranked 1,359th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 33,000
In Canada, 11 boys named Shaun were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
France
1 in 130,000
In France, about 5 boys named Shaun were born in 2025, ranked 4,881st among boys that year.
share of that year’s births on record
Births in France by year of birth, from INSEE’s fichier des prénoms (1900–2025; Mayotte from 2012); exact spellings count separately (Léo and Leo are different names), any spelling under 3 in a year and sex is withheld at source, every count is rounded to the nearest 5 at source, and nametree keeps the spellings that reached 20 in some year. Shares divide by INSEE’s count of births in France from 1957, and before that by the file’s own total for the year; INSEE says the file is not complete before 1946. Source: Insee, fichier des prénoms (last updated 2026-07-16)
Spain
1 in 550,000
In Spain, 82 residents are named Shaun, ranked 9,673rd among men, with a mean age of 50.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
last on record 2020
Shaun is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 22 people in Brazil were named Shaun, ranked 116,443rd, with a median age of 42.
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Montevideo City
last on record 1978
Shaun is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
New South Wales
outside the top 100
Shaun is not in the 2025 top 100 for New South Wales.
share of that year’s top-100 registrations
New South Wales (not all of Australia) publishes only each year’s 100 most popular names per sex, so a missing year means below that top 100, not rare. Source: NSW Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages, popular baby names
New Zealand
last on record 2017
Shaun is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Not on the record in Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Shaun
Most people given the name Shaun in the United States were born between 1970 and 1999. The Shaun you meet today is most often in his 30s or 40s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
Keep exploring
The Shaun deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Shaun truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Shaun fits with your family’s names and surname.
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