Dog Names That Start With S

An intriguing name with two distinct etymologies. It can be a masculine version of Sapphire or Sapphira, relating to the gemstone, or it can be an alternative form of the Arabic name Safir, meaning "ambassador, diplomat".

A rare unisex word/virtue name that is currently given to around 10 babies of each gender per year in the US. It could make for an unexpected route to bright, easygoing nickname Sol (or trendy nickname Ace).

This pretty multicultural name makes a pleasant update to Sarah.

Three Stooges name (he's the one who wasn't Moe or Curly).

Some parents just use Steve on the birth certificate, but it doesn't have the breezy charm of trendy short forms like Max, Sam, and Jake. Regardless of how much you love Steve as a given name, it might be smart to give your son a longer option to fall back on.

Better for a dog.

With other bird names such as Lark and Phoenix on the rise, why not chirpy Sparrow? Nicole Richie and Joel Madden named their son, born in 2009, Sparrow James Midnight.

Sakina is a feminine name derived from the Arabic word Sakun/Sakoon meaning peace, tranquillity. Sakina can refer to the sense of serenity, or the reassuring peace that can settle upon an enlightened person. Actress Sakina Jaffrey, best known from her role in House of Cards, is a bearer of this name.

Historically, Sire was a formal term for addressing male royalty, particularly a king. Sire can also mean "father" as both a noun and a verb.

Scheherazade -- or Sheherazade --is a legendary Persian queen immortalized as the narrator of all one thousand stories in the One Thousand and One Nights. Her story is even more remarkable than the tales she tells.

In Greek mythology, the river Styx separates the Earth and the Underworld, named for the goddess who gave it its power. Today Styx is also associated with the 1970s rock band of the same name.

Senna is a flowering bush common in the tropics, with bright yellow flowers. In herbal medicine, Senna has gained some notice as the active ingredient in so-called "dieter's teas," which works mainly as a laxative. While that is a less-than-savory association, Senna has a lovely sound and is a fresh entry in the flourishing botanical names genus.

Shura is a unisex Russian nickname for Aleksandr or Aleksandra, themselves forms of Alexander. Less known in the English-speaking world than Sasha, it's also more assertive — probably because of that "sure" sound.

The young male star Shia LaBeouf has given this name a male image, but many would consider its sound soft and feminine.

Siggy can be a short form of any name that starts with Sig-. Most Sig- names have Germanic origins, like the Scandinavian names Signe and Sigrid. In this context, Siggy means "victory".

Sunshine was seen as a quintessential hippie name of the 70s, reaching as high as Number 536 in 1975. Now such names are making a bit of a retro comeback, seen, for example, as a character on Glee.

Historic and popular Indian name, borne by the son of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. On classic Hindu epics, it was the name of the charioteer of King Dhritarashtra; in the UK is was a character on the TV series Eastenders.

This name of the glamorous mean girl in "High School Musical" is a euphonic spin on the dog breed Shar Pei, a brilliant name joke skewering the practice of picking a name for its sound without considering what it means. Other examples: Cliche, Hooker.

Sam as a name standing on its own was given to only 18 girls in 2021, versus over 400 boys. But as a short form it's appealing and down-to-earth for both sexes, and heard far more often: There were over 2500 baby girls named Samantha in the US in one recent year and more than 8500 boys named Samuel, so you will hear the name Sam a lot more often than you might guess judging by the numbers for this short form. Like the wildly popular Charlie, Sam is a nickname that works equally well as a girls' name as a boys'. All forms considered, Sam is still one of the most popular names that start with S.

The name St. John is much more usable in its phonetic spelling — similar to the way St. Clair evolved into Sinclair. St. John has some literary cred — St. John Rivers is a cool character in Jane Eyre.

St. John has been attached to a number of notable men — not as a first but as a middle name, one shared by Evelyn Waugh, Basil Rathbone, Richard Harris and Brian Eno.