Sian
A Welsh feminine name meaning "splendid", "brilliant" or "dazzling".
Name Census estimates that about 959 living Americans carry the first name Sian. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Sian today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sian births was 2002 (36 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sian. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sian with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
959
~ 1 in 357,408 Americans
Peak year
2002
36 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,841
Tracked since 1962
Census
Sian in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,528 people with the first name Sian, which placed it at #9,204 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,204
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,528 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sian
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sian is White at 44.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.2%) and Black (15.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sian described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sian at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.2% · 675
- Asian and Pacific Islander25.2% · 385
- Black or African American15.3% · 234
- Hispanic or Latino7.5% · 115
- Two or more races7.1% · 109
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 10
Gender
Gender distribution for Sian
Sian leans heavily female at 85.4% of total registrations, but 146 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sian as a male name
- Ranked #8,841 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (14 births)
Sian as a female name
- Ranked #11,965 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (35 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sian on both sides of the split. Of the 1,525 people counted with this name, 308 were male (20.2%) and 1,217 were female (79.8%).
Popularity
Sian: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sian from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 277 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Sian remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sian 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 Sian during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sians live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Sian, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sian
The name Sian originated in Wales, a country in the United Kingdom. It is a Welsh feminine name derived from the Welsh word "sian," which means "charm" or "blessing." The name has been in use since the Middle Ages, with records dating back to the 13th century.
Sian is a variant spelling of the more common Welsh name Siân, which is pronounced similarly to the English name "Shahn." The name was originally a diminutive form of the name Jane or Janne, which was derived from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "God is gracious."
In Welsh mythology, there are references to a character named Sian who was a beautiful and enchanting fairy or goddess associated with nature and fertility. This connection to folklore and mythology may have contributed to the name's popularity in Wales.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sian can be found in the 14th-century Welsh manuscript known as the "Black Book of Carmarthen," where a character named Sian ap Gwilym is mentioned. Another notable historical figure with the name Sian was Sian Siencyn (c. 1500-1568), a Welsh poet and writer who lived during the Renaissance period.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Sian. Sian Williams (born 1964) is a British television presenter and journalist who has worked for BBC News and Radio 4. Sian Phillips (born 1933) is a Welsh actress known for her roles in films such as "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" and "Dune."
Sian Brooke (born 1980) is an English actress who has appeared in various television shows and films, including "Sherlock" and "Good Omens." Sian Massey (born 1985) is an English professional football referee who became the first woman to officiate a match in the Premier League in 2010.
Sian Berry (born 1974) is a British politician and the co-leader of the Green Party of England and Wales. She has been a member of the London Assembly since 2016 and has advocated for environmental issues and sustainable urban development.
People
Sian + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sian 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
Sian: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sian?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 959 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sian 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 357,408 US residents.
Is Sian a common name?
We classify Sian as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 999 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sian most popular?
The single biggest year for Sian was 2002, when 36 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sian is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sian in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,528 people with the name Sian, or 0.51 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,204 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sian in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sian?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sian on both sides of the split. Of the 1,525 people counted with this name, 308 were male (20.2%) and 1,217 were female (79.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sian?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sian is White at 44.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (25.2%) and Black (15.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sian most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sian in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.2% (675 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sian in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sian a female name?
Yes, 85.4% of people registered as Sian 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.
Is Sian still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sian in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sian can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How common is the name Sian?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Sian at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.