NameCensus.

UK surname

Sheehan

Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Síocháin, meaning "descendant of Síochán," derived from síochán, meaning "peace."

In the 1881 census there were 731 people recorded with the Sheehan surname, ranking it #5,001 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 4,881, ranked #1,385, up from #5,001 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Ystradyfodwg (incl. Rhigos), Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff and London parishes. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Rhondda Cynon Taf, Pembrokeshire and Ealing.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Sheehan is 4,995 in 2014. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 567.7%.

1881 census count

731

Ranked #5,001

Modern count

4,881

2016, ranked #1,385

Peak year

2014

4,995 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Sheehan had 731 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #5,001 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 4,881 in 2016, ranked #1,385.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 1,243 in 1911.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Challenged Communities.

Sheehan surname distribution map

The map shows where the Sheehan surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Sheehan surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Sheehan over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 370 #6,426
1861 historical 302 #8,393
1881 historical 731 #5,001
1891 historical 614 #6,271
1901 historical 1,069 #4,517
1911 historical 1,243 #3,814
1997 modern 4,496 #1,461
1998 modern 4,764 #1,426
1999 modern 4,788 #1,433
2000 modern 4,639 #1,471
2001 modern 4,594 #1,453
2002 modern 4,740 #1,439
2003 modern 4,658 #1,429
2004 modern 4,661 #1,419
2005 modern 4,597 #1,422
2006 modern 4,543 #1,441
2007 modern 4,617 #1,426
2008 modern 4,659 #1,422
2009 modern 4,805 #1,416
2010 modern 4,987 #1,397
2011 modern 4,933 #1,389
2012 modern 4,806 #1,400
2013 modern 4,967 #1,377
2014 modern 4,995 #1,373
2015 modern 4,917 #1,386
2016 modern 4,881 #1,385

Geography

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Where Sheehans are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Ystradyfodwg (incl. Rhigos), Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff, London parishes and Merthyr Tydfil. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Rhondda Cynon Taf, Pembrokeshire, Ealing, Carmarthenshire and Bristol. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Some modern areas include a three-digit suffix, such as Leeds 110. The suffix is a small-area code, so it stays in the table while the prose uses the plain place name.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 Ystradyfodwg (incl. Rhigos) Glamorganshire
2 Bristol City: St Mary Redcliff Gloucestershire
3 London parishes London 1
4 London parishes London 3
5 Merthyr Tydfil Glamorganshire

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Rhondda Cynon Taf 008 Rhondda Cynon Taf
2 Pembrokeshire 015 Pembrokeshire
3 Ealing 018 Ealing
4 Carmarthenshire 023 Carmarthenshire
5 Bristol 045 Bristol, City of

Forenames

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First names often paired with Sheehan

These lists show first names that appear often with the Sheehan surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Sheehan

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Sheehan, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Baseline UK

Group

Challenged Communities

Nationally, the Sheehan surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Challenged Communities, within Baseline UK. This does not mean every Sheehan household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Residents of these neighbourhoods typically live in households with dependent children, and there are fewer-than-average residents of normal retirement age or over. Identification with ethnic minorities, particularly Black, or Mixed or Multiple ethnicities is common. The rate of Christian religious affiliation is low. Housing predominantly consists of semi-detached houses, along with a significant number of terraced properties and flats. Overcrowded social housing is common, and private renting occurs at average UK levels. Those in employment work mainly in caring leisure and other services; process, plant and machine operation; or elementary occupations. Unemployment is high, and few individuals have degree level qualifications. Many of these neighbourhoods occur in commuter towns or less accessible areas of larger towns and cities.

Wider pattern

This Supergroup exemplifies the broad base to the UK’s social structure, encompassing as it does the average or modal levels of many neighbourhood characteristics, including all housing tenures, a range of levels of educational attainment and religious affiliations, and a variety of pre-retirement age structures. Yet, in combination, these mixes are each distinctive of the parts of the UK. Overall, terraced houses and flats are the most prevalent, as is employment in intermediate or low-skilled occupations. However, this Supergroup is also characterised by above average levels of unemployment and lower levels of use of English as the main language. Many neighbourhoods occur in south London and the UK’s other major urban centres.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

The Greater London Mix

Group

Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers

Within London, Sheehan is most associated with areas classed as Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers, part of The Greater London Mix. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Mainly located in Inner London, these neighbourhoods retain a diverse employment structure, with some concentration in associated professional and technical occupations rather than skilled trades or construction. Social renting is more common and levels of homeownership are low. Many residents identify as Black. There is a lower than average rate of marriage or civil partnership, few that are very old (85 or over) and higher than average incidence of disability.

Wider London pattern

A Supergroup embodying London's diversity in many respects, apart from low numbers of residents identifying as of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani or Other (non-Chinese) Asian ethnicity. There is lower than average prevalence of families with dependent children, while there are above average occurrences of never-married individuals and single-person households. The age distribution is skewed towards younger, single residents and couples without children, with many individuals identifying as of mixed or multiple ethnicity. Social rented or private rented housing is slightly more prevalent than average, and many residents live in flats. Individuals typically work in professional and associated roles in public administration, education or health rather than in elementary occupations in agriculture, energy, water, construction or manufacturing. Incidence of students is slightly below average. Individuals declaring no religion are more prevalent than average and non-use of English at home is below average.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Sheehan is most concentrated in decile 10 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the healthier end of the index.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

10
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Sheehan falls in decile 3 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname towards the more deprived end of the index.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

3
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Sheehan is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of 50-60 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

8
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - Irish

This describes the area pattern most associated with Sheehan, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Sheehan

The surname Sheehan is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic personal name Siodhcháin, meaning "peaceful." It first appeared in the Munster region of Ireland, particularly in County Cork and County Kerry.

The name can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was recorded as O'Sheehan, indicating a patronymic surname meaning "descendant of Sheehan." The prefix "O'" denoted a grandson or descendant in the Irish naming system.

In ancient Irish manuscripts, the name appears as O'Siocháin, O'Shehyn, and O'Sheehan. These variations emerged due to the challenges of transliterating Gaelic names into English during the anglicization of Irish surnames in the 16th and 17th centuries.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Inisfallen, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, where it mentions an O'Sheehan chieftain named Donnchadh O'Siocháin in the year 1172.

Notable individuals with the surname Sheehan include:

1. Jeremiah Sheehan (1818-1882), an Irish-American politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts Senate.

2. William Francis Sheehan (1859-1917), an American politician and lawyer who served as the 48th Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1907 to 1910.

3. Denny Sheehan (1904-1982), an Irish Gaelic football player who captained the Kerry senior football team and won three All-Ireland medals.

4. Patty Sheehan (born 1956), an American professional golfer who won six major championships on the LPGA Tour between 1983 and 1994.

5. Bill Sheehan (1937-2014), an American basketball player and coach who led the University of Hartford to the NCAA Division II championship in 1977.

The Sheehan name is also associated with various place names in Ireland, such as Sheehanville, a village in County Limerick, and Sheehaneennabro, a townland in County Kerry, reflecting the historical presence of the family in these areas.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Sheehan families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Sheehan surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Middlesex leads with 238 Sheehans recorded in 1881 and an index of 3.32x.

County Total Index
Middlesex 238 3.32x
Glamorgan 102 8.18x
Lancashire 85 1.00x
Surrey 40 1.15x
Kent 37 1.51x
Monmouthshire 27 5.22x
Cheshire 23 1.46x
Gloucestershire 20 1.42x
Yorkshire 20 0.28x
Cumberland 16 2.60x
Essex 15 1.06x
Hampshire 15 1.02x
Staffordshire 14 0.58x
Durham 13 0.61x
Derbyshire 11 0.98x
Somerset 11 0.95x
Hertfordshire 9 1.82x
Northamptonshire 9 1.34x
Devon 7 0.47x
Warwickshire 7 0.39x
Lanarkshire 4 0.17x
Denbighshire 3 1.11x
Cornwall 2 0.25x
Flintshire 1 0.52x
Leicestershire 1 0.13x
Nottinghamshire 1 0.10x
Royal Navy 1 1.17x
Sussex 1 0.08x
Wiltshire 1 0.16x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Shoreditch London in Middlesex leads with 31 Sheehans recorded in 1881 and an index of 9.99x.

Place Total Index
Shoreditch London 31 9.99x
St Marylebone London 30 7.85x
Liverpool 25 4.84x
Cardiff St Mary 24 34.95x
Poplar London 21 15.54x
St George In East 19 39.01x
Camberwell 17 3.72x
Swansea Town 17 16.63x
Briton Ferry 16 107.60x
West Drayton 14 566.80x
St Andrew Holborn 13 53.56x
Southwark St George Martyr 12 8.33x
Bedminster 11 10.16x
Cardiff St John 11 27.01x
Deptford St Paul 11 5.84x
Derby St Alkmund 11 32.75x
Merthyr Tydfil 11 9.18x
Sheffield 11 4.87x
Cheadle 9 29.81x
Hatfield 9 90.00x
Manchester 9 2.36x
Northampton St Sepulchre 9 26.27x
Snodland 9 129.87x
St George Bloomsbury 9 21.91x
St Pancras London 9 1.56x
Sunderland 9 23.92x
Aberdare 8 9.35x
Aberystruth 8 17.53x
Bristol Christchurch 8 392.16x
Cleator 8 31.18x
Hornsey 8 8.84x
Bromley London 7 4.44x
Gelligaer 7 24.59x
Great Bolton 7 6.22x
Newton 7 10.69x
Salford 7 2.80x
West Ham 7 2.24x
Wolstanton 7 9.54x
Aldershot 6 12.21x
Mile End Old Town 6 5.31x
St Botolph Bishopsgate 6 59.23x
Bedwellty 5 5.47x
Colchester St Botolph 5 41.60x
Everton 5 1.85x
Kensington London 5 1.26x
Llansamlet Lower 5 44.29x
Newport 5 20.25x
Paddington London 5 1.90x
St Giles In Fields 5 20.24x
Usk 5 116.55x
Westminster St James 5 6.79x
Alverstoke 4 7.53x
Birmingham 4 0.66x
Congleton 4 14.65x
Crosscanonby 4 19.62x
Deptford St Nicholas 4 20.63x
Horfield 4 28.31x
North Cray 4 256.41x
Pendleton In Salford 4 3.95x
Rutherglen 4 11.78x
St Bride London 4 96.15x
St Martin In Fields 4 9.33x
St Woollos 4 6.92x
Stockport 4 4.92x
West Derby 4 1.61x
Whitechapel London 4 5.67x
Woolwich 4 4.43x
Blackburn 3 1.33x
Bootle Cum Linacre 3 4.45x
Bradford 3 1.75x
Chelsea London 3 1.39x
Coventry Holy Trinity 3 5.56x
Farnborough 3 19.47x
Newington 3 1.13x
Penrith 3 13.18x
Ratcliffe London 3 7.59x
Sherburn 3 46.30x
St Botolph Aldgate 3 30.71x
Tottenham 3 2.63x
Wrexham Regis 3 14.93x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Sheehan surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Mary 80
Margaret 34
Ellen 32
Catherine 24
Elizabeth 16
Annie 14
Hannah 14
Ann 13
Bridget 11
Kate 11
Jane 9
Sarah 8
Eliza 6
Julia 6
Alice 5
Caroline 4
Emma 4
Johanna 4
Maria 4
Rose 4
Amy 2
Anne 2
Cathrine 2
Emily 2
Florence 2
Frances 2
Johannah 2
Louisa 2
Margret 2
Margt. 2
Anna 1
Anora 1
Anorah 1
Bridgett 1
Clara 1
Diana 1
Edith 1
Elibt. 1
Elizebeth 1
Fanny 1
Honorah 1
Isabel 1
Isabella 1
Jessie 1
Johanah 1
July 1
Kathleen 1
Lavinia 1
Lilian 1
Winifred 1

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Sheehan surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
John 71
William 35
Patrick 27
Thomas 23
James 21
Michael 21
Daniel 17
Edward 16
Joseph 11
Jeremiah 10
Cornelius 9
Timothy 9
Charles 6
Dennis 6
Francis 6
George 6
Maurice 6
Denis 4
Thos. 4
David 3
Robert 3
Alfred 2
Andrew 2
Dan 2
Edw. 2
Henry 2
Paul 2
Richard 2
Walter 2
Edmund 1
Florence 1
Frank 1
Frederic 1
Frederick 1
Fredk. 1
Harry 1
Jerim. 1
Jno. 1
Martin 1
Matthew 1
Mauric 1
Micheal 1
Mike 1
Morice 1
Nicholas 1
Owen 1
Patk. 1
Peter 1
Phillip 1
Wm. 1

FAQ

Sheehan surname: questions and answers

How common was the Sheehan surname in 1881?

In 1881, 731 people were recorded with the Sheehan surname. That placed it at #5,001 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Sheehan surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 4,881 in 2016. That gives Sheehan a modern rank of #1,385.

What does the Sheehan surname mean?

Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Síocháin, meaning "descendant of Síochán," derived from síochán, meaning "peace."

What does the Sheehan map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Sheehan bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.