Sheena is a Scottish form of Jane or Jean, ultimately meaning 'God is gracious.'
Sheena is the Anglicized form of Sine, the Scottish Gaelic rendering of the name that travels under many flags — Jane in English, Jean in Scots English, Jeanne in French, Giovanna in Italian — all of them ultimately derived from the Hebrew Yochanan, meaning God is gracious. That Hebrew root gave the world John, one of the most replicated names in all of Western history, and its feminine forms have been equally prolific. Sheena represents the specifically Gaelic branch of that vast family tree, a name that carries the sound of the Scottish Highlands even when worn far from them.
The name gained its most famous twentieth-century bearer in Sheena Easton, the Scottish pop singer whose 1980 debut single Modern Girl launched one of the decade's most versatile international careers — she performed a James Bond theme, collaborated with Prince, and charted in multiple genres across multiple continents. Her success gave Sheena an immediately recognizable sound profile in popular culture. Two years before Easton's debut, the Ramones had already enshrined the name in punk mythology with Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (1977), a song that captured a certain ideal of feminine rebellion and independence.
The name thus carries the remarkable distinction of appearing prominently in both mainstream pop and punk rock canons. For contemporary parents, Sheena offers a name with genuine Gaelic heritage and an unexpectedly rich cultural footprint — soft enough to feel warm, strong enough to carry real presence. It has never been common enough to feel overused, which means its bearers tend to own the name with a comfortable distinctiveness.