Given name & surname · also Gaelic
Senan
“the people's hero”
Senan is used as a given name and a surname. One Irish interpretation is “the people's hero.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One Irish interpretation is “the people's hero.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Irish.
The story
The name’s historical associations include numerous early Irish saints, including a 6th-century bishop and a 7th-century hermit.
Senan through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 142
- 142 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2018
- 12 babies
- 2025
- 12
- #7,118 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +30%
- Rising
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 12 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 7,118 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 255 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Senan’s family of names
Senan is an English adaptation of Seanán. In Breton usage, Senan has a related form in Sezni.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Senan
- Senan AbdelqaderIsraeli architectborn 1962
- Senan Louis O'DonnellIrish Roman Catholic priest1927–2023
- Senan KaraTurkish actor (born 1978)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Senan, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Eoghan
“the little swift one”
>99% boys
Lehan
“descendant of Liathán”
>99% boys
Whelan
“descendant of Faolán”
>99% boys
Lachlann
“loch” · “place of”
>99% boys
Keiran
“having dark features; the little dark one”
>99% boys
Bohan
“descendant of Buadhachán”
>99% boys
Drennan
“descendant of Draighneán”
>99% boys
Mackinnon
“the son of the fair one”
>99% boys