Simeon, Simon

Gender: Masculine
Origin: Biblical, Hebrew
Meaning: “he has heard.”
Eng (SIE-mun)

Simeon first appears in the Old Testament as a patriach of the Simeonite tribe and one of the 12 sons of Jacob.

The name origins are debated. The Torah claims that the name is in reference to Leah’s cry of anguish to God over her husband’s deference to her. Being a derivative of the Hebrew shama’on meaning “he has heard my suffering.” In this case, the name would share the same etymology as the name Ishmael (God has heard).

In some classical Rabbinical texts the name is sometimes translated to mean “he who listens to the words of God.” It has even been suggested that it is derived from the Hebrew sham’in meaning “there is sin” which is in reference to Zimri, an ancestor of Simeon’s, who committed the sin of having a relationship with a Midianite woman.

The name was borne by several other characters in the Old and New Testament, in the forms of Simeon and Simon. Simon later became associated with St. Peter. During the early Christian era, the Greek world took the name to mean “snub nosed” due to its similarity in sound to the Greek word σιμοσ (simos).

Simon has always been prevalent in the Western World, it is currently very trendy in continental Europe. The rankings of popularity in various countries are as follows:

• # 3 (Poland, Szymon, 2010)
• # 7 (Austria, 2010)
• # 10 (Belgium, 2009)
• # 12 (Italy, Simone, 2008)
• # 26 (Germany, 2011)
• # 32 (Denmark, 2010)
• # 37 (Sweden, 2010)
• # 49 (France, 2009)
• # 56 (the Netherlands, Siem, 2010)
• # 60 (Croatian, Šimun, 2010)
• # 60 (Norway, Simen, 2010)
• # 64 (Norway, 2010)
• # 71 (Croatia, Šime, 2010)
• # 75 (the Netherlands, 2010)
• # 91 (Hungary, 2010)

Other forms of the name include (divided alphabetically by origin)

• Simeon Սիմէօն (Albanian/Armenian/Bulgarian)
• Simon Симон Սիմոն (Albanian/Armenian/English/Finnish/German/Hungarian/Macedonian/Malayalan/Norwegian/Occitanian/Slovenian/Swedish/ Romanian)
• Samān (Arabic)
• Semaan  سمعان (Assyrian/Coptic/Lebanese/Syrian)
• Şımon (Azeri)
• Ximun (Basque)
• Shyman Шыман (Belarusian)
• Symon Сымон (Belarusian)
• Simó (Catalan)
• Simone (Corsican/Italian)
• Šime (Croatian)
• Šimo (Croatian)
• Šimun (Croatian)
• Šimon (Czech/Prekmurian/Slovak)
• Simion (Danish/Romanian)
• Simoen (Danish)
• Siemen (Dutch/Frisian)
• Siem (Dutch)
• Siimon (Estonian/Finnish)
• Smeon ስምዖን, (Ethiopian)
• Símeon /Símun (Faroese)
• Sema (Finnish)
• Semen (Finnish/Gascon)
• Semjon (Finnish)
• Semoi (Finnish)
• Siim (Finnish)
• Siimoni (Finnish)
• Simeoni (Finnish)
• Simo (Finnish/Serbian)
• Symeon Συμεών (Greek)
• Symeonos Συμεώνος (Greek)
• Siimuut (Greenlandic)
• Shimon שמעון (Hebrew)
• Símon (Icelandic)
• Síomón (Irish)
• Sshimeoni (Kosovar)
• Sīmanis (Latvian) 
• Sīmans (Latvian)
• Simons (Latvian)
• Saimonas (Lithuanian)
• Saimontas (Lithuanian)
• Simanas (Lithuanian)
• Simas (Lithuanian)
• Simeonas (Lithuanian)
• Simonas(Lithuanian)
• Sime Симе (Macedonian)
• Shimon (Malayalam)
• Simen/Simian (Norwegian)
• Simå (Norwegian dialectical form: Norrland & Østerdalen)
• Sømjo (Norwegian dialectical form: Rogaland)
• Simonu/Symeonu (Old Church Slavonic)
• Symeon (Polish)
• Szymon (Polish: Szymek and Szymuś are diminutives)
• Simão (Portuguese)
• Simeão (Portuguese)
• Simun (Quecha)
• Schimun (Romansch)
• Semyon Семён (Russian)
• Sim (Scottish)
• Šimej (Slovene)
• Simón (Spanish)
• Jimeno (Spanish)
• Ximeno (Spanish)
• Simoni (Swahili)
• Shemod (Syrian)
• Shimeon (Syrian)
• Semen/Symon Симон (Ukrainian)
• Mişon (Turkish)
• Seimon (Welsh)
• Simwnt (Welsh)
• Shimmel (Yiddish)

Feminine forms include:

• Simona (Czech/Italian/Portuguese/Romanian/Slovak/Slovenian)
• Simonia/Simonie (Danish)
• Simoona (Finnish)
• Simone (French)
• Simonette (French)
• Szimóna (Hungarian)
• Szimonetta (Hungarian)
• Símonía (Icelandic)
• Simonetta (Italian)
• Sima (Lithuanian)
• Simonė (Lithuanian)
• Szymona (Polish)
• Simoneta (Portuguese)
• Ximena (Portuguese/Spanish)
• Simoneta/Šimona (Slovak)
• Simeona (Slovene)
• Jimena (Spanish)

The designated name-day is October 28, and October 30 in Slovakia.