Siobhán is a female given name of Irish origin. The most common anglicisations are Siobhan (identical to the Irish spelling but omitting the acute accent over the 'a'), Shevaun and Shivaun. A now uncommon spelling variant is Siubhán. It is derived from the Anglo-Norman and .. (Modern French ), which were introduced into Ireland by the

Anglo-Normans The Anglo-Normans ( nrf, Anglo-Normaunds, ang, Engel-Norðmandisca) were the medieval ruling class in England, composed mainly of a combination of ethnic Normans, French, Anglo-Saxons, Flemings and Bretons, following the Norman conquest. A ...

in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

. The name first appears in the surviving

Irish annals A number of Irish annals, of which the earliest was the Chronicle of Ireland, were compiled up to and shortly after the end of the 17th century. Annals were originally a means by which monks determined the yearly chronology of feast days. Over t ...

in the early fourteenth century. The name is thus a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words in different languages that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical e ...

of the

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

''Siân'' and the English ''

Joan Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *: Joan of Arc, a French military heroine * Joan (surname) Weather events * Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multi ...

'', derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...

and (modern English ''Joanna'', ''Joanne''), which are in turn from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

(). This Greek name is a feminine form of the Greek (), which is in turn a shortened form of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

The popularity of the actress

Siobhán McKenna Siobhán McKenna (; 24 May 1922 – 16 November 1986) was an Irish stage and screen actress. Background She was born Siobhán Giollamhuire Nic Cionnaith in Belfast in the newly-created Northern Ireland into a Catholic and nationalist family. ...

(1923–1986) helped the resurgence of the name in the 20th century.. The webpage cited the following book: The

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic ( gd, Gàidhlig ), also known as Scots Gaelic and Gaelic, is a Goidelic language (in the Celtic branch of the Indo-European language family) native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a Goidelic language, Scottish Gaelic, as well a ...

form of the name is Siobhàn,. (which is sometimes anglicised '' Judith''). The male Irish forms of the name are and ''Eóin''.

People

* Siobhan Baillie (born 1981), British politician *

Siobhan Benita Siobhan Benita (' Pook; born 11 October 1971) is a British former civil servant. She was an independent candidate in the 2012 London mayoral election. She was then the Liberal Democrat candidate in the London mayoral election originally pla ...

(born 1971), British politician and former civil servant *

Siobhan Brooks Siobhan Brooks (born 1972) is an African-American lesbian feminist sociologist known for her work with African-American women sex workers. She holds a B.A. in women's studies from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. in sociology from New ...

, American sociologist *

Siobhan Byrne Siobhan Claire Byrne (born August 13, 1984) is a German-born Irish sabre fencer. She is a four-time All-American (2005–2008), a three-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and a two-time medalist at the Junior World Cup Fencing Series. She also w ...

(born 1984), German-born Irish sabre fencer *

Siobhan Chamberlain Siobhan Rebecca Chamberlain (born 15 August 1983) is an English sports pundit, commentator, and former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper. She joined Manchester United in 2018 after playing for Liverpool. Before joining Li ...

(born 1983), British footballer * Shivaune Christina, Australian former model and Miss Earth Australia 2003 * Siobhán Cleary, Irish composer *

Siobhán Coady Siobhán Coady (; born November 11, 1960) is a Canadian businesswoman and politician who represents the riding of St. John's West in the Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly as a Liberal. Coady previously served as the Liberal Member of P ...

, Canadian politician and businesswoman * Siobhán Creaton, Irish journalist * Siobhan Davies, English choreographer *

Siobhan de Maré Siobhan de Maré is a singer, mostly known from lending her voice to the album ''Formica Blues'' by the UK band Mono in 1997. In 2000, she joined Robin Guthrie (formerly of Cocteau Twins) to form Violet Indiana, which varies from shimmery wall of ...

, singer-songwriter *

Siobhan Dillon Siobhan Patricia Dillon (born 1 September 1984) is an English actress and singer, who rose to fame when she performed in the British talent show-themed television series '' How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'' on BBC One in 2006. Since th ...

, English singer * Siobhán Donaghy, Irish singer formerly of the Sugababes * Siobhan Dowd, English writer *

Siobhan Fahey Siobhan Maire Fahey (; born 10 September 1958) is an Irish singer whose vocal range is a light contralto. She was a founding member of the group Bananarama, who have had ten top-10 hits including the US number one hit single "Venus". She later ...

, Irish singer who was a member of Bananarama and Shakespears Sister *

Siobhan Fallon Hogan Siobhan Fallon Hogan (pronounced , born May 13, 1961) is an American actress and comedian. She has appeared in films such as '' Men in Black'', ''Forrest Gump'', '' The Negotiator'', '' Holes'', '' Daddy Day Care'', '' Going in Style'', and '' Th ...

, American actress *

Siobhan Finneran Siobhán Margaret Finneran (born 27 April 1966) is a British actress. She made her screen debut in the 1987 independent film '' Rita, Sue and Bob Too'', and subsequently worked consistently in television drama including roles in ''Coronation Str ...

, English actress * Siobhan Haughey, Irish-Hong Kong Olympic swimmer *

Siobhan Hayes Siobhan Teresa Hayes (born 21 July 1974) is an English actress. She is known for her roles as Abi Harper in the BBC sitcom ''My Family'' and Sandy in the BBC radio series ''Absolute Power (comedy), Absolute Power''. Career Hayes portrayed Abi Ha ...

, British actress * Siobhán Hapaska, Irish sculptor * Siobhan Healy (born 1976), Scottish artist * Siobhán Hoey, Irish sportswoman * Siobhan Hunter, Scottish footballer *

Siobhan Karam Siobhan Karam (born May 1, 1986) is a Canadian former competitive ice dancer. She competed for two years with Kevin O'Keefe, with whom she teamed up in May 2007. They placed 4th at the 2007 Ondrej Nepela Memorial and 6th at the 2008 Canadian Fi ...

, Canadian ice dancer * Siobhán Killeen, Irish footballer * Siobhan Leachman, New Zealand citizen scientist * Siobhan MacGowan, Anglo-Irish singer * Siobhan Magnus, American contestant on American Idol, Season 9. * Siobhan Maher Kennedy, singer *

Siobhan Marshall Siobhan Marshall is a New Zealand actress best known for her role as Pascalle West from the comedy/drama series '' Outrageous Fortune'' (2005–2010). Career Marshall attended Auckland's Unitec School of Performing Screen Arts and graduate ...

, New Zealand actress * Siobhán McCarthy, Irish actress of musical theater *

Siobhan McColl Siobhan McColl (born 2 April 1991 in Gauteng, South Africa) is a South African figure skater. She is the 2006–2007 and 2007–2008 season South African junior national champion and has competed on the Junior Grand Prix The ISU Junior Gra ...

, South African figure skater *

Siobhain McDonagh Siobhain Ann McDonagh (born 20 February 1960) is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Mitcham and Morden since the 1997 general election. She served as an Assistant Whip in the Labour Government, b ...

(born 1960), British Labour Party MP *

Siobhan McGarry Siobhan McGarry (née McNeice,) born January 1966 is a television presenter and freelance journalist from Northern Ireland. Broadcasting career Siobhan McGarry is a broadcaster and media expert. Her company ''Media Friendly NI'' provides med ...

, Northern Irish television presenter * Siobhán McHugh, Irish-Australian author, podcaster and documentary-maker *

, Irish, Tony Award-winning actress * Siobhán McSweeney, Irish actress * Siobhan Miller, Scottish folk singer *

Shevaun Mizrahi Shevaun Mizrahi is a Turkish-American documentary filmmaker. She received a Jury Special Mention Award at the Locarno Film Festival 2017 for her documentary film Distant Constellation among many other awards including the Best Picture Prize at the ...

, Turkish-American documentary filmmaker * Siobhán O'Brien, Irish singer-songwriter *

Siobhán O'Hanlon Siobhán O'Hanlon (1963 – 11 April 2006) was an IRA volunteer and Sinn Féin activist.Sinn Féin website< ...

, Irish activist *

Siobhán Parkinson Siobhán Parkinson (born 23 November 1954) is an Irish writer. She writes for both children and adults and was made Laureate na nÓg in 2010. Early life Parkinson grew up in Galway and Donegal, studied English Literature and German at Trinity Co ...

, Irish author of several children's books, including ''Kathleen: The Celtic Knot'' * Siobhan Paton, Australian Paralympic swimmer *

Siobhan Reddy Siobhan Reddy is the studio director of Media Molecule, a video game development studio based in Guildford in the United Kingdom, most famous for their debut title ''LittleBigPlanet''. Biography Reddy was born in South Africa, but grew up in Cam ...

, British video game executive *

Siobhan Redmond Siobhan Redmond, ( ; born 27 July 1959) is a Scottish actress, a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and known for various stage, audio and television roles. Early life Siobhan Redmond was born on 27 July 1959 in the Tollcross area of ...

, Scottish actress * Siobhan Roberts, Canadian science journalist *

Siobhan Thompson Siobhan Thompson (born 29 July, 1984) is a British sketch comedian and comedy writer. She is known for her work on the CollegeHumor Originals web series and has appeared in other programs such as '' Adam Ruins Everything'' and '' Broad City''. ...

CollegeHumor CollegeHumor is an Internet comedy company based in Los Angeles. Aside from producing content for release on YouTube, it was also a former humor website owned by InterActiveCorp ( IAC) until January 2020, when IAC withdrew funding and the websi ...

writer *

Siobhan Wescott Siobhan Wescott is an American educator who is Professor of American Indian Health at the Nebraska Medical Center College of Public Health. She was previously Director of the Indians into Medicine program at the University of North Dakota, where s ...

, Alaskan Athabaskan educator * Siobhan Williams, Canadian actress

Fictional characters

* Siobhan, one of Christopher's teachers at school in Mark Haddon's '' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'' * Siobhan, a female vampire appearing in the last book of ''

Twilight Twilight is light produced by sunlight scattering in the upper atmosphere, when the Sun is below the horizon, which illuminates the lower atmosphere and the Earth's surface. The word twilight can also refer to the periods of time when this ...

'' by

Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer (; née Morgan; born December 24, 1973) is an American novelist and film producer. She is best known for writing the vampire romance series ''Twilight'', which has sold over 100 million copies, with translations into 37 differ ...

* Siobhan Andrews, a smart third-grader in the television series ''

Hey Arnold! ''Hey Arnold!'' is an American animated comedy television series created by Craig Bartlett. It originally aired on Nickelodeon from October 7, 1996, to June 8, 2004. The show centers on fourth grader Arnold Shortman, who lives with his grandpare ...

'' * Siobhan Beckett, a character from the science fiction series '' Earth: Final Conflict'' * Siobhan Brody, mother of Roarke's mother in J. D. Robb's '' In Death'' novels * Siobhan Clarke, Detective Sergeant in Ian Rankin's ''John Rebus'' novels * Siobhan Kelly, deputy in the Cinemax series ''

Banshee A banshee ( ; Modern Irish , from sga, ben síde , "woman of the fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or keening. Her name is ...

'' * Siobhan Martin, one of the twin sisters portrayed by

Sarah Michelle Gellar Sarah Michelle Prinze ( ; born April 14, 1977) is an American actress. After being spotted at the age of four in New York City, she made her screen acting debut in the television film ''An Invasion of Privacy'' (1983). A leading role on the te ...

in the short-lived drama '' Ringer'' * Siobhan McDougal, also known as Silver Banshee, a DC Comics supervillain * Siobhan Pattinson, one of the two main characters of the LGBT webcomic ''Outsiders'' * Siobhan "Shiv" Roy, the daughter of patriarch Logan Roy on the HBO series '' Succession'' *Siobhan, Cassidy's girlfriend and character from J Kenner's Stark International trilogy. Also appears in Deepest kiss, Hold me, Wicked Grind, Sweetest Taboo and Anchor me. * Siobhan Ryan, daughter of Maeve and Johnny Ryan on the American daytime soap opera ''Ryan's Hope'' from 1978 to 1989 * Siobhan Sadler, also known as "Mrs. S" a foster mother to two of the main characters in the television series ''

Orphan Black ''Orphan Black'' is a Canadian science-fiction thriller television series created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett and starring Tatiana Maslany. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identical ...

'' * Siobhan Sharpe, head of brand for the Olympic Deliverance Commission in the BBC television series ''

Twenty Twelve ''Twenty Twelve'' is a BBC television comedy series written and directed by John Morton. Starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes and Amelia Bullmore, the programme is a spoof on-location mockumentary following the organisation of the 2012 Summ ...

'' * Shevaun Tillman, a character in

James Clavell James Clavell (born Charles Edmund Dumaresq Clavell; 10 October 1921 – 7 September 1994) was an Australian-born British (later naturalized American) writer, screenwriter, director, and World War II veteran and prisoner of war. Clavell is best ...

's novel ''

Tai-Pan A tai-pan (,Andrew J. Moody, "Transmission Languages and Source Languages of Chinese Borrowings in English", ''American Speech'', Vol. 71, No. 4 (Winter, 1996), pp. 414-415. literally "top class"汉英词典 — ''A Chinese-English Dictionary' ...

'' * Siobhan O'Brien, a character in Sung J. Woo's novel ''Skin Deep'' *Siobhan Sheehan, character in HBO series “

Mare of Easttown ''Mare of Easttown'' is an American crime drama limited series created and written by Brad Ingelsby for HBO. Directed by Craig Zobel, the series premiered on April 18, 2021, and concluded on May 30, 2021, consisting of seven episodes. It star ...

” *Siobhán, the lead character in the 2019 film, Sea Fever. *Siobhan Kelly, a character in Beth O'Leary's "The No-Show" *Siobhan Klaxon, a character in the 2022 stop-motion horror comedy film, Wendell & Wild

Diminutive

Siobhán has a corresponding diminutive form, (after French ). Examples of this name include singer

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor on 8 December 1966; ) is an Irish singer-songwriter. Her debut album, '' The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and charted internationally. Her second album, ''I Do Not Want Wha ...

References

External links

Index of Names in Irish Annals: Siobhán
{{DEFAULTSORT:Siobhan Irish-language feminine given names English-language feminine given names