Show ContentsShinn History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Shinn is originally a name that appeared in Gaelic as O Seanachain, which is derived from the word "sean," meaning "old."

Early Origins of the Shinn family

The surname Shinn was first found in County Clare (Irish: An Clár) located on the west coast of Ireland in the province of Munster, where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

Early History of the Shinn family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Shinn research. Another 92 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1318, 1802, 1863, 1877, 1916 and 1937 are included under the topic Early Shinn History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Shinn Spelling Variations

Individual scribes in the Ireland during the Middle Ages would often record a person's name various ways. How the name was recorded depended on what that particular scribe believed the proper spelling for the name pronounced to him was. Spelling variations revealed in the search for the origin of the Shinn family name include Shanahan, O'Shanahan, Shahan, Shannon, Gilshenan and many more.

Early Notables of the Shinn family

Another 34 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Shinn Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Shinn Ranking

In the United States, the name Shinn is the 3,027th most popular surname with an estimated 9,948 people with that name. [1]


United States Shinn migration to the United States +

The English-ruled Ireland of the late 18th and 19th centuries featured a rapidly increasing population and an agricultural-based economy. This combination proved to be disastrous in the 1840s after a couple of failed potato harvests. Thousands died of disease and starvation, and thousands more left the country, often bound for North America. Those that survived the journey to North America were put to work building the bridges, canals, roadways, and railways needed for the development of an industrial society. Those Irish, although often despised by those already established in North American cities and towns, played an instrumental role in making Canada and the United States the powerful and wealthy nations that they are today. An examination of early immigration and passenger lists has shown many immigrants bearing the name Shinn:

Shinn Settlers in United States in the 17th Century
  • John Shinn, who landed in New Jersey in 1678 [2]

Contemporary Notables of the name Shinn (post 1700) +

  • Robert C. Shinn Jr. (1937-2023), American politician, Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (1994-2002)
  • David H. Shinn (b. 1940), American diplomat and professor, 19th United States Ambassador to Ethiopia (1996-1999)
  • Anne O'Hagan Shinn (1869-1933), American suffragist, journalist, and writer of short stories
  • Everett Shinn (1876-1953), American realist painter and member of the Ashcan School
  • Lieutenant Commander Conrad "Gus" S. Shinn, U.S. Navy pilot who made the first plane landing at the geographic South Pole, eponym of Mount Shinn, Antarctica
  • Moses Franklin Shinn (1809-1885), American pioneer Methodist Episcopal Church minister in Omaha, Nebraska
  • William Norton Shinn (1782-1871), American politician, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from New Jersey (1833-1837)
  • Christopher Shinn (b. 1975), American OBIE Award (2005) and Guggenheim Fellowship in Playwriting (2005) winning playwright, a Pulitzer Prize finalist (2008)
  • Milicent Washburn Shinn (1858-1940), American child psychologist, the first woman to receive a doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley
  • George Shinn (b. 1941), American former owner of the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets, the Charlotte Knights and the Gastonia Rangers
  • ... (Another 27 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)


  1. "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
  2. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


Houseofnames.com on Facebook