Sharon (Hebrew: שָׁרוֹן Šārôn "plain") is a given name as well as an Israeli surname.
In English-speaking areas, Sharon is now predominantly a feminine given name, although historically it was also used as a masculine given name. In Israel, it is still commonly used as a masculine given name.
The Hebrew word simply means "plain", but in the Hebrew Bible, שָׁרוֹן is the name specifically given to the fertile plain between the Samarian Hills and the coast, known (tautologically) as Sharon plain in English. The phrase "rose of Sharon" (חבצלת השרון ḥăḇaṣṣeleṯ ha-sharon) occurs in the KJV translation of the Song of Solomon ("I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley", and has since been used in reference to a number of flowering plants.
Unlike other unisex names that have come to be used almost exclusively as feminine (e.g. Evelyn), Sharon was never predominantly a masculine name. Usage before 1925 is very rare and was apparently inspired either from the Biblical toponym or one of the numerous places in the United States named after the Biblical plain.
Use as a feminine name begain in the early 20th century, first entering the statistics of the 1,000 most popularly given names in the United States in 1925. Its inspiration was possibly the heroine of the serial novel The Skyrocket by Adela Rogers St. Johns, published in 1925 and made into a romantic drama film starring Peggy Hopkins Joyce in 1926.
The name's popularity took a steep increase only in the mid-1930s, however, and peaked during the 1940s, remaining a top 10 name for most of the decade. The variant Sharron is on record during the 1930s to 1970s, with a peak popularity in the US in 1943. The more eccentric spelling Sharyn was popular only for a brief time in the 1940s, peaking in 1945.
The name's popularity has steadily declined since the 1940s (except for a slight rise in the late 1950s), falling out of the top 100 after 1977, and out of the top 500 after 2001.
In the United Kingdom its popularity peaked during the 1960s. It was the 10th most popular female name by 1964 and was still as high as 17th in 1974 (when it was at rank 70 in the US), but a sharp decline in popularity followed and since the 1980s it has not featured in the top 100.
Sharon Kay Ritchie (b. 1937) Miss America 1956
Sharon Lee Myers (b. 1941), stage name Jackie DeShannon, American singer
Sharon Tate (1943–1969), American actress and murder victim
Sharon Creech (b. 1945), author of children's books Walk Two Moons and Ruby Holler
Sharon Redd (b. 1945), American singer
Sharon Dahlonega Raiford Bush (b. 1952), American TV personality
Sharon Lee (writer) (b. 1952), American novelist
Sharon G. Lee (b. 1952), American judge
Sharon Osbourne (b. 1952), English music promoter and TV personality, wife and manager of Ozzy Osbourne
Sharon Stone (b. 1958), American actress, model and producer
Sharon Jordan (b. 1960), American film and television actress
Sharon Maguire (b. 1960), British film director
Sharon Gibson (b. 1961), English javelin thrower
Sharon Lawrence (b. 1961), American television actress
Sharron Davies (born 1962), British swimmer
Sharron McClellan (b. 1963), American action-adventure author
Sharon Bruneau (b. 1964), Canadian female bodybuilder and fitness competitor
Sharon Claydon (b. 1964), Australian politician
Sharon Hampson (b. 1943), Canadian singer
Sharon Hanson (b. 1965), American heptathlete
Sharon Cuneta (b. 1966), Filipina actress and host of the Sharon talk show.
Sharon Rendle (b. 1966), British judoka
Sharon Epperson (b. 1968), CNBC correspondent
Sharon Jaklofsky (b. 1968), Australian-Dutch athlete
Sharon Shannon (b. 1968), Irish musician
Sharon Corr (b. 1970), Irish musician and member of The Corrs
Sharon Case (b. 1971), American actress
Sharon Dijksma (born 1971), Dutch politician
Sharon Cohen (b. 1972), more commonly known as Dana International, an Israeli pop singer
Sharon Leal (b. 1972), American actress and director
Sharon den Adel (b. 1974), co-founder of and singer for Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation
Sharon Van Etten (b. 1981), American singer-songwriter
Sharon Kips (b. 1983), Dutch singer
Sharon Doorson (b. 1987), Dutch singer
Sharon Stephen (b. 1987), Malaysian actress
Sharon Fichman (b. 1990), Canadian/Israeli tennis player
Sharon Turner (1768–1847), English historian
Sharon Tyndale (1816-1871), American politician
Sharon Rotbard (b. 1959), Israeli architect publisher and author
Sharon Drucker (b. 1967), Israeli professional basketball coach
Sharon Shason (b. 1979), retired Israeli basketball player
Sharon was adopted as a surname by Zionist emigrants in the context of the Hebrew revival in the early 20th century, and has since become a heritable Israeli surname.
Arieh Sharon (born Ludwig Kurzmann, 1900–1984), Israeli architect
Ariel Sharon (born Ariel Scheinermann, 1928–2014), Israeli Prime Minister. Scheinermann was given the surname Sharon by David Ben-Gurion in c. 1948.
Avraham Sharon (born Abraham Schwadron, 1878–1957), Israeli intellectual
Moshe Sharon (b. 1937), Israeli scholar of Islamic history and civilization, author i.a. of the Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae, a work in progress planned to contain all ancient Arabic inscriptions found in the Holy Land
Omri Sharon (b. 1964), Israeli politician, son of the former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Revital Sharon (born 1970), Israeli Olympic artistic gymnast
Deke Sharon, stage name of Kurk Richard Toohey (b. 1967), American singer, musician, producer
Sharon (Doctor Who), a Doctor Who magazine character
Sharon (シャロン), a character from the Street Fighter EX series
Sharon Carter, a Marvel Comics character
Sharon Collins Newman, a character in the daytime soap opera The Young and The Restless
Sharon Cooper, a character in the 1982 musical film Grease 2
Sharon Jellinsky, a minor character in the film Addams Family Values
Sharon Kaur, a character played by Jez Dhillon in the British web series Corner Shop Show.
Sharon Marsh, a character on South Park
Sharon Rainworth, a character in the manga and anime series Pandora Hearts
Sharon Rickman, a character from the popular British soap opera EastEnders
Sharon Strzelecki, a character from Kath & Kim
Sharon Valerii, a character from Battlestar Galactica
Rose of Sharon Joad Rivers, a character from The Grapes of Wrath
Sharon Rai Prakash, a character from the Indian seris Dil Dosti Dance
Sharon Raydor, a LAPD captain who runs Major Crimes
Sharon, Ontario, Canada
Sharon, Connecticut
Sharonville, Ohio
Sharon, Pennsylvania
Sharon Springs, New York
Sharon Springs, Kansas
Sharon, Massachusetts
Sharon, New Jersey
Sharon, Vermont
Sharon, South Carolina
Sharon, Georgia
Sharon, North Dakota
