Motivated by the experimental progress in the study of heavy baryons, we investigate the mass spectra of strange single heavy baryons in the λ-mode, where the relativistic quark model and the infinitesimally shifted Gaussian basis function method are employed. It is shown that the experimental data can be well reproduced by the predicted masses. The root mean square radii and radial probability density distributions of the wave functions are analyzed in detail. Meanwhile, the mass spectra allow us to successfully construct the Regge trajectories in the (J,M2) plane. We also preliminarily assign quantum numbers to the recently observed baryons, including Ξc(3055), Ξc(3080), Ξc(2930), Ξc(2923), Ξc(2939), Ξc(2965), Ξc(2970), Ξc(3123), Ξb(6100), Ξb(6227), Ξb(6327) and Ξb(6333). At last, the spectral structure of the strange single heavy baryons is shown. Accordingly, we predict several new baryons that might be observed in forthcoming experiments.Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI. Article funded by SCOAP3 and published under licence by Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Science and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd.