Shireen
An Arabic feminine name meaning "sweet", "beautiful", or "delight".
Name Census estimates that about 1,186 living Americans carry the first name Shireen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shireen today is around 42 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shireen births was 1991 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shireen. 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
1.2K
~ 1 in 289,000 Americans
Peak year
1991
40 babies that year
Average age
42
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,972
Tracked since 1923
Popularity
Shireen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shireen from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 262 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shireen 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 Shireen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shireens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Shireen, while Texas, Michigan, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 56 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shireen
The name Shireen has its origins in the Persian language, where it means "sweet" or "sugary." It is believed to have emerged during the Middle Ages, around the 7th or 8th century CE, in the region of modern-day Iran and surrounding areas. The name may be derived from the Persian word "shirin," which means "sweet" or "sugar."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shireen can be found in the epic Persian poem "Khosrow and Shirin" by the 12th-century poet Nizami Ganjavi. The poem tells the story of the love between the Sassanid king Khosrow II and a beautiful Armenian princess named Shirin.
In the 9th century, there was a notable figure named Shireen Khatun, who was the daughter of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tazz and the wife of the Samanid ruler Ismail ibn Ahmad. She was known for her patronage of the arts and her support for poets and scholars during her time.
During the 13th century, there was a princess named Shireen Banu Begum, who was the daughter of the Delhi Sultanate ruler Iltutmish. She was renowned for her beauty and her prowess in archery.
In more recent history, one of the most famous individuals with the name Shireen was Shireen Amir Begum, who lived from 1828 to 1905. She was an Indian princess and a skilled poet who wrote in Urdu and Persian languages.
Another notable figure was Shireen Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist who was born in 1947. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her efforts in promoting democracy and human rights, particularly the rights of women and children in Iran.
While the name Shireen has its roots in the Persian culture, it has gained popularity across various regions and cultures over time, transcending its linguistic and geographic boundaries.
People
Shireen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shireen 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
Shireen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shireen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,186 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shireen 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 289,000 US residents.
Is Shireen a common name?
We classify Shireen as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,345 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shireen most popular?
The single biggest year for Shireen was 1991, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shireen is about 42 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shireen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shireen in the SSA data are female. 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.