Given name & surname
Sharon
“rose of Sharon”·“from the plains; a flowering shrub”
Sharon began as a biblical place name, with a floral phrase helping it enter personal naming.
Original Hebrewשרון
Meaning & origin
What it means
Interpretations include “rose of Sharon” and “from the plains; a flowering shrub” (Hebrew). These may reflect different naming traditions.
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Hebrew.
How it developed
From Hebrew שָׁרוֹן (šārōn, “the Sharon plain”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
The phrase “rose of Sharon” in the Song of Solomon 2:1 connects the place name with floral imagery. Rose of Sharon also appears as a character name in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, providing a separate literary association.
In the Bible
In the Bible, the name Sharon appears in 1 Chronicles 5:16, 1 Chronicles 27:29, Song of Solomon 2:1 and 3 other passages.
- 1 Chronicles 5:16
- 1 Chronicles 27:29
- Song of Solomon 2:1
- Isaiah 33:9
- Acts 9:35
- Joshua 12:18
From biblical name research
Sharon through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 726,130
- 3,106 boys · 723,024 girls
- Most popular year
- 1947
- 28,590 babies
- 2025
- 179
- #1,256 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −20%
- Easing
Boys, girls and both
The balance of boys and girls given this name has shifted over time. Recent births are 1% boys.
Where it’s given
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 179 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 1,256 among girls’ names. Average annual use for girls was 20.0% lower in 2021–2025 than in 2016–2020. Its largest published annual count for girls was 28,533 in 1947. In 2025, California and Texas shared the largest reported state-level birth count for girls with this name (20 each). Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 583,755 as a first name in 2020; 3,258 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.
Sharon’s family of names
In English usage, Sharon has a diminutive in Shari. Sharon has an alternative spelling in Sharron. Sharon has a related form in Shari.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Sharon has relatives in 4 languages. Lines run from its Hebrew roots to each of them.
8 related names in 4 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 15
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 4
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 20
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Sharon
- Sharon StoneAmerican actress (born 1958)
- Sharon TateAmerican actress and model (1943–1969)
- Christa McAuliffeAmerican educator and astronaut1948–1986
- Sharon den AdelDutch singerborn 1974
- Sharon OsbourneBritish-American television personalityborn 1952
- Sharon GlessAmerican actressborn 1943
- S. Epatha MerkersonAmerican actressborn 1952
- Sharon LawrenceAmerican actressborn 1961
- Sharon Van EttenAmerican singer-songwriterborn 1981
Characters named Sharon: Sharon Carter (Marvel Comics), Sharon Carter (the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Sharon Marsh (South Park).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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