Shaun is an anglicized spelling of the Irish Sean, itself the Irish form of John, and means "God is gracious". The spelling was a favorite of the 1970s and 1980s, when Shaun Cassidy was a teen idol, and Olympic snowboarder Shaun White kept it in the spotlight later. Shaun ranked number 355 in 2000 and number 342 in 2006, but has dropped quickly since, from number 768 in 2015 to number 1956 in 2025.