Shannon

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

• English:/ˈʃænən/●(recorded in a dictionary) from Wiktionary

Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Shannon, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.

• Kelly
• Leslie
• Lindsay
• Lesley
• Tracy

From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.

Shannon is also recorded as 2 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name10 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Shannón, Sháññóñ, 'Shannon, Shăññõñ

• Greek given name3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Σανον, Shańnon

77 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Shannon is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Irish given name; on this page associated with Jean/Jeanne family.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In Irish, Name of Ireland's longest river; used as a given name in Ireland.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, The longest river in the British Isles, which flows through Ireland into the Atlantic Ocean.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, river, Ireland; pers. name

  as a name·Pronouncing Dictionary of Proper Names

• In French, Du nom irlandais du fleuve Shannon; origine irlandaise, « ancienne ».

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

• Shannon Lucidb. 1943USAmerican biochemist and retired NASA astronaut
• Shannon Elizabethb. 1973USAmerican actress
• Shay Mitchellb. 1987CAnot in their usual nameCanadian actress

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.

87 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 43 countries.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Is Shannon a male or female name?

Shannon is used for both men and women, depending on the country. National registers that list names by sex disagree: United States (Census Bureau, 2020): listed as female; France (INSEE, 2023): listed as female; Netherlands (Meertens NVB): listed as female; Australia (NSW BDM, 1998): listed under both sexes. We don't publish a percentage split.

What are other forms of the name Shannon?

In the etymology graph, Shana, Shanna and Shanon are forms of the same name in other languages.

What does the name Shannon mean, and where does it come from?

(i) from Irish Gaelic O Seandin, ‘descendant of Seandn’, a personal name meaning ‘little old or wise one’; (ii) a different form of Shanahan. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].

How common is the name Shannon?

In the United States, the national register counted 300,975 people named Shannon in 2020, about 1 in 1.1 thousand residents.

How common is Shannon compared with other names?

In the United States, Shannon is the 160th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.

Which countries have the most people named Shannon?

In the United States, the national register counted about 301 thousand people named Shannon, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled shannon. After it come United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and South Africa; the country table on this page ranks them.

How do you pronounce Shannon?

In English /ˈʃænən/ (Wiktionary).