Shawn

English

Alternative forms

• Sean
• Shaun

Etymology

An anglicized spelling of Seán, the (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Irish equivalent of John, originally meaning "Jehovah has been gracious" in Hebrew.

Proper noun

Shawn

1. A male given name from Irish, popular in the US in the 1970s.
   • 1996 Tobias Wolff, The Night in Question: Stories, Alfred A. Knopf, →ISBN, 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 from Irish, transferred from the male name.
   • 1984, Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine, Bantam Books 1987, →ISBN, 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

• Deshawn
• Shawna

Anagrams

• Hawns, hwans