Given name & surname · also Vietnamese
Sen
“resembling the lotus flower”·“a wood sprite”
Sen is used as a given name and a surname. Interpretations include “resembling the lotus flower” (Vietnamese) and “a wood sprite” (Japanese). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Original Japanese𫣄
Meaning & origin
What it means
Interpretations include “resembling the lotus flower” (Vietnamese) and “a wood sprite” (Japanese). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Where it comes from
This spelling has been associated with Vietnamese and Japanese naming traditions.
How it developed
From Khmer សេន, from Bengali সেন, from Hindi सेन.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1989. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Sen through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 43
- 43 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1989
- 6 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,740 as a first name in 2020; 4,183 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Sen’s family of names
In Japanese usage, Sen is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 閃. In Hindi usage, Sen as a surname is a Roman-alphabet rendering of सेन. In English usage, Sen as a surname was borrowed from the Hindi form सेन.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Sen has relatives in 4 languages. Lines run from its Japanese roots to each of them.
Spellings & scripts 9
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
- 𫣄original script · Japanese
- 宣original script · Japanese
- 閃original script · Japanese
- 茜original script · Japanese
- 千original script · Japanese
- 戦original script · Japanese
- सेनoriginal script · Hindi
- সেনoriginal script · Bengali
Show 1 moreShow fewer
Across languages 3
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Sen
- Senhimeeldest daughter of Japanese shogun Tokugawa Hidetada (1597-1666)
- Tô HoàiVietnamese writer (1920-2014)
- Tsuda SenJapanese politician (1837–1908)
- Nguyễn Thị Senbadminton playerborn 1991
- Ikeda SenJapanese female Samurai1560–1640
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Sen, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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—
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—
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