Sinead
Of Irish origin, meaning "she who is endowed with great wisdom".
Name Census estimates that about 1,286 living Americans carry the first name Sinead. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sinead today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sinead births was 1990 (160 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sinead. 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 Sinead with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.3K
~ 1 in 266,527 Americans
Peak year
1990
160 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,331
Tracked since 1975
Census
Sinead in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,506 people with the first name Sinead, which placed it at #9,290 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
#9,290
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,506 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
77.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sinead
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sinead is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Black (7.1%). 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 Sinead 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 Sinead at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White77.9% · 1,173
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 119
- Black or African American7.1% · 107
- Two or more races4.7% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 29
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7
Popularity
Sinead: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sinead from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 627 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
Sinead 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 Sinead during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sineads live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New York, California, Massachusetts recorded the most babies named Sinead, while Ohio, Michigan, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 51 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sinead
The name Sinead is of Irish Gaelic origin, derived from the old Irish word "Sine" meaning "God is gracious" or "God's grace". This name dates back to ancient Celtic times and has been in use for centuries across Ireland and other regions where Gaelic culture and language were prevalent.
Sinead is a traditional Irish feminine name that gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly among the Celtic Christian communities in Ireland. It was a common name among Irish nobility and religious figures during this period, with many accounts of nuns, abbesses, and other pious women bearing this name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sinead can be found in the Annals of Ulster, a historical chronicle that documents events in Ireland from the 5th to the 16th century. The name appears in various entries, often referring to influential women of the time.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Sinead. One of the most well-known is Saint Sinead (also known as St. Cynthia or St. Quiteria), a 5th-century Iberian martyr who was venerated in both Christian and Muslim traditions. Another famous Sinead was Sinead Ni Dhomnaill (c. 1700-1795), a renowned Irish poet and composer from County Donegal.
In more recent times, the name gained wider recognition due to the success of Irish singer-songwriter Sinead O'Connor, who was born in 1966. Her powerful voice and distinctive shaved head hairstyle made her an iconic figure in the music industry during the late 20th century.
Other notable individuals named Sinead include Sinead Cusack (born 1948), an Irish actress known for her work in films and television, and Sinead McKeever (born 1986), a prominent Irish singer and television personality.
While the name Sinead has its roots in ancient Gaelic culture, it continues to be a popular choice for parents in Ireland and among Irish communities around the world, carrying a rich heritage and a connection to the island's storied past.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sinead
People
Sinead + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sinead 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
Sinead: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sinead?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sinead 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 266,527 US residents.
Is Sinead a common name?
We classify Sinead as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,329 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sinead most popular?
The single biggest year for Sinead was 1990, when 160 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sinead is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sinead in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,506 people with the name Sinead, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,290 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 Sinead 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 Sinead?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sinead appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,512 people counted with this name, 99.6% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sinead?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sinead is White at 77.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.9%) and Black (7.1%). 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 Sinead most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sinead in the 2020 Census, accounting for 77.9% (1,173 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 Sinead in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sinead a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sinead 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 Sinead still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sinead 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 Sinead 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 many people have Sinead as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.