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Alternative forms[edit]


An anglicized spelling of Seán, the Irish equivalent of John, originally meaning "Jehovah has been gracious" in Hebrew.

Proper noun[edit]


  1. A male given name, popular in the US in the 1970s.
    • 1996 Tobias Wolff, The Night in Question: Stories, Alfred A. Knopf, ISBN 0679402187, page 141
      Or take Sean, S-E-A-N. Been spelled like that for about five hundred years. But not them, they've gotta spell it S-H-A-W-N. Like they have a right to that name in the first place.
  2. A female given name, transferred from the male name.
    • 1984, Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine, Bantam Books 1987, ISBN 0553268082, page 169
      Two weeks later Dot and her girl, who was finally named Shawn, like most girls born that year, came back to work at the scales.

Derived terms[edit]