Sheena

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Girl · Scottish Gaelic, from Hebrew

Sheena

Say it: SHEE-nuh

Try it with your surname

Meaning

An Anglicized spelling of Scottish Gaelic Sìne, a form of Jane (Hebrew 'God is gracious').

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Spread in the US in the 1950s through the comic-book and TV heroine Sheena, Queen of the Jungle.

Its wave through time

A fashion of the 1980s

In the United States

22,379 babies given this name since 1943
At its height in 1984, about 1 in 468 girls
12 babies in 2020

Through the ages

The Modern Age1880 to today

Used by

Scottish American

The family of the name

Other spellings: Shena, Sheenagh

Scottish Gaelic	Sìne

Famous bearers

Sheena Easton, Scottish singer

Names worth a look

ArabellaGirlA Scottish name of uncertain origin, perhaps a variant of Annabel or from Latin orabilis 'yielding to prayer'.Renaissance · peak 2017

GemmaGirlFrom Italian gemma 'gem, jewel' (also 'bud').Middle Ages · peak 2019

DeirdreGirlUncertain. The Old Irish form is Derdriu; the popular gloss 'sorrowful' comes from her tragic story, not from the…Modern · peak 1961

LornaGirlApparently coined by R. D. Blackmore for Lorna Doone (1869), possibly from the Scottish place name Lorne.Victorian · peak 1942 · forgotten

FionaGirlPopularized, and probably coined, by James Macpherson in his Ossian poems of the 1760s, from Gaelic fionn 'white, fair'.Revolutions · peak 2017

IslaGirlFrom Islay, a Scottish island, and the River Isla in Scotland; the place name is of unknown, probably pre-Celtic…Modern · peak 2020

ShannonGirl or boyFrom the River Shannon in Ireland (Sionainn), linked in legend with the goddess Sionann; the meaning 'old, wise one'…Modern · peak 1976

ShawnGirl or boyAn anglicized spelling of Irish Seán, the Irish form of John, from Hebrew Yohanan 'God is gracious'.Modern · peak 1971

Where this comes from

United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.