In other languages the name is rendered as Polish: Święciany, Belarusian: Свянця́ны/Svianciany, Russian: Свентя́ны/Sventiany, Yiddish: סווינציאַן, romanized: Svintsyán, and German: Schwintzen.

During the 1812 French invasion of Russia, Napoleon stayed in the town for 12 hours to write orders and receive an envoy from the King of Naples.

It had a significant Jewish population (according to the 1897 Russian census – 52%),[5] but during World War II, under German occupation, the Švenčionys Ghetto was established.

Švenčionys was occupied by the German Army from 27 June 1941 to 7 July 1944 and placed under the administration of the Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland.

[7] Most of the municipal area remained part of the Lithuanian SSR except the Ashmyany region which was reincorporated into Belarus in 1944.