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Greetings,
Here's the information we have on the name "Sean."
"Sean" is an Irish form of the Old French name "Jehan" (the precursor of the English "John"). In the 12th century, the Norman rulers of England invaded Ireland. Over time, some Normans settled in Ireland and some Norman names were adopted into Irish. Other medieval spellings of the name are "Seóan", "Seo/inín", "Seo/nag", and "Seinicín" (in these examples, a letter followed by a slash represents an accented letter). The initial "sh" sound of the Irish names is similar to the French "zh" sound of the letter "j" (as in the modern French "Jean")
Mark McClennan, Christer Romson, Brian Scott, and Josh Mittleman contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful. If you need further assistance, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Alan Terlep
Academy of S. Gabriel