Nashawn
A combination of "Nash" and "Shawn," both meaning champion or gifted.
Name Census estimates that about 940 living Americans carry the first name Nashawn. It is a predominantly male name (94.5% of registrations). The average person named Nashawn today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nashawn births was 2006 (68 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nashawn. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nashawn with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
940
~ 1 in 364,632 Americans
Peak year
2006
68 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,583
Tracked since 1973
Census
Nashawn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 725 people with the first name Nashawn, which placed it at #15,757 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,757
National first-name rank
People counted
725
725 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nashawn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nashawn is Black at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (5.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nashawn described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nashawn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.9% · 601
- Two or more races6.8% · 49
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 42
- White2.8% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Nashawn
Nashawn leans heavily male at 94.5% of total registrations, but 53 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nashawn as a male name
- Ranked #13,583 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2006 (68 births)
Nashawn as a female name
- Ranked #13,607 in 1998
- 6 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1994 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nashawn leans strongly male. 631 people counted with this name were male (87.5%), compared with 90 female bearers (12.5%).
Popularity
Nashawn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nashawn from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 469 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nashawn by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nashawn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nashawns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. New York, Virginia, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Nashawn, while South Carolina, Maryland, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nashawn
The name Nashawn has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, emerging during the medieval period in the Middle East. It is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Nathaniel, which means "gift of God" or "given by God." The earliest recorded instances of the name Nashawn can be traced back to the 11th century, where it appeared in various historical documents and religious texts.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Nashawn was Nashawn ibn Ismail, a prominent scholar and philosopher who lived in the 12th century in the city of Baghdad. His works on metaphysics and Islamic theology were widely studied and revered during his time. Another noteworthy figure was Nashawn al-Andalusi, a renowned mathematician and astronomer from the Andalusian region of Spain, who lived in the 13th century and made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics.
During the Renaissance period, the name Nashawn gained popularity among certain noble families in Europe, particularly in Italy and France. One such individual was Nashawn de Medici, a member of the illustrious Medici family, who was a patron of the arts and supported many renowned artists and intellectuals of the 15th century.
In the 17th century, Nashawn al-Faqir, a Sufi mystic and poet from Persia, gained widespread recognition for his spiritual teachings and poetic works, which were widely circulated throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. His writings have had a lasting impact on Islamic mysticism and literature.
Another notable figure was Nashawn ibn Khalid, a prominent military leader and strategist from the Arabian Peninsula, who played a crucial role in the expansion of the Islamic Empire during the 8th century. His military tactics and leadership skills were highly regarded, and he is mentioned in various historical accounts of the time.
These are just a few examples of individuals who bore the name Nashawn throughout history, each leaving their mark in various fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of human civilization.
People
Nashawn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nashawn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nashawn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nashawn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 940 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nashawn going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 364,632 US residents.
Is Nashawn a common name?
We classify Nashawn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 958 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nashawn most popular?
The single biggest year for Nashawn was 2006, when 68 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nashawn is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nashawn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 725 people with the name Nashawn, or 0.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,757 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nashawn in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nashawn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nashawn leans strongly male. 631 people counted with this name were male (87.5%), compared with 90 female bearers (12.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nashawn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nashawn is Black at 82.9%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (6.8%) and Hispanic (5.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nashawn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nashawn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.9% (601 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nashawn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nashawn a male name?
Yes, 94.5% of people registered as Nashawn in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nashawn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nashawn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nashawn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Nashawn?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.