Shaughn
An Irish Gaelic name meaning "the descendant of the owl".
Name Census estimates that about 376 living Americans carry the first name Shaughn. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Shaughn today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaughn births was 1992 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaughn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
376
~ 1 in 911,581 Americans
Peak year
1992
20 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2012 SSA rank
#9,521
Tracked since 1965
Gender
Gender distribution for Shaughn
Shaughn leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shaughn as a male name
- Ranked #13,895 in 2012
- 5 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1992 (20 births)
Shaughn as a female name
- Ranked #9,521 in 1973
- 5 female births in 1973
- Peak: 1973 (5 births)
Popularity
Shaughn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaughn from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 132 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shaughn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Shaughn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaughns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaughn
The name Shaughn is an anglicized variation of the Irish Gaelic name Seaghán, which is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious." It is believed to have originated in the 5th or 6th century AD when Christianity spread to Ireland.
The name Seaghán is a diminutive form of the Irish name Seán, which is the Irish equivalent of the English name John. The spelling Shaughn emerged as a way to represent the Irish pronunciation in the English language.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shaughn can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a chronicle of medieval Irish history. In the entry for the year 1131, a man named Shaughn O'Loughlin is mentioned.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shaughn. In the 16th century, Shaughn O'Neill (c. 1530-1567) was an Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Neill clan during the Tudor conquest of Ireland.
Another prominent figure was Shaughn O'Farrell (c. 1600-1670), an Irish soldier and landowner who fought for the Catholic Confederacy during the Irish Confederate Wars.
In the 18th century, Shaughn Keogh (1725-1795) was an Irish-born merchant and landowner in the British colonies of North America.
In the 19th century, Shaughn O'Donnell (1838-1918) was an Irish nationalist politician and member of the British House of Commons.
In the 20th century, Shaughn McGrath (1920-2006) was an Irish playwright and novelist known for his works exploring the lives of working-class Irish people.
While the name Shaughn has its roots in Irish Gaelic culture, it has gained popularity in other parts of the world, particularly in English-speaking countries, as a unique and distinctive name with a rich historical background.
People
Shaughn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaughn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shaughn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaughn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 376 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaughn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 911,581 US residents.
Is Shaughn a common name?
We classify Shaughn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 392 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaughn most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaughn was 1992, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaughn is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shaughn a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Shaughn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.