Shannon
Featured in baby name books
Shannon is an Irish Gaelic name meaning “old” or “ancient,” sometimes rendered “having ancient wisdom.” Other books treat Shannon as a form of Sean, “God is gracious,” or as “small and wise.” The name comes from Ireland’s longest river, and it was a hit with Irish Americans in the 1970s alongside Erin and Kerry. Mostly a surname in Ireland, Shannon first became a girl’s name in the U.S. in the 1930s and is now mostly feminine.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Boys, The Best Baby Names for Girls, The Everything Baby Names Book, Baby Names Made Easy, Numerology for Baby Names, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time
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Usage of Shannon in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Shannon against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Shannon is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Shannon in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 75 girls were named Shannon, making it the #2387 girls' name in the US. Since 1912, 295,782 girls have been named Shannon, with the most (13,547) in 1970. It is most common, relative to births, in Massachusetts, Illinois and California.
In 2025, 41 boys were named Shannon, making it the #2991 boys' name in the US. Since 1881, 52,379 boys have been named Shannon, with the most (3,014) in 1972.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Towns named Shannon
There are 56 towns and villages with Shannon in their name, in 6 countries.
🇺🇸 United States 42🇨🇦 Canada 5🇮🇪 Ireland 5🇦🇺 Australia 2🇳🇿 New Zealand 1🇻🇬 British Virgin Islands 1
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shannon | Munster, 🇮🇪 Ireland | 10,256 | Map |
| Castle Shannon | Pennsylvania, 🇺🇸 United States | 8,235 | Map |
| Shannon | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | 5,086 | Map |
| Shannon Hills | Arkansas, 🇺🇸 United States | 3,786 | Map |
| Shannon | Georgia, 🇺🇸 United States | 1,862 | Map |
| Shannon | Mississippi, 🇺🇸 United States | 1,771 | Map |
| Shannon | Georgia, 🇺🇸 United States | 1,654 | Map |
| Shannon | Manawatu-Wanganui, 🇳🇿 New Zealand | 1,610 | Map |
| Shannon | Illinois, 🇺🇸 United States | 712 | Map |
| Shannon | North Carolina, 🇺🇸 United States | 263 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Shannon
There are 32 lakes and reservoirs with Shannon in their name, in 2 countries.
🇨🇦 Canada 16🇺🇸 United States 16
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Lac Shannon | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lac Shannon | Quebec, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Lake Shannon | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake Shannon | Virginia, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake Shannon | Wisconsin, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Lake Shannon | Washington, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Shannon Lake | Nova Scotia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Shannon Lake | Nova Scotia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Shannon Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Shannon Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Shannon songs
6 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Shannon in their title. The best known:
- Shannon – Henry Gross (1976)
- Shannon – Me First and the Gimme Gimmes (2001)
- MARIE (Shannon)
- SHANNON (Harris)
- SHANNON (Mason)
- SHANNON (Needham)
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Shannon
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Shannon.
Shannon
Shannon Boyd-Bailey McCune
Shannon Chan-Kent
Shannon Cole
See more...
Fictional characters named Shannon
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Shannon as a pet name
FurryName has found 81 dogs named Shannon in public pet registers, making it the #2,163 dog name there. Most of them are registered in Allegheny County (62), Surf Coast Shire (1), Zurich (1). Shannon as a dog name →
Shannon products
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