Scheherazade
A feminine Persian name meaning "of noble city" or "city-freer".
Name Census estimates that about 41 living Americans carry the first name Scheherazade. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Scheherazade today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Scheherazade births was 1968 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Scheherazade. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Scheherazade. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
41
~ 1 in 8,359,862 Americans
Peak year
1968
8 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1978 SSA rank
#11,090
Tracked since 1948
Census
Scheherazade in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 140 people with the first name Scheherazade, which placed it at #47,034 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
#47,034
National first-name rank
People counted
140
140 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
34.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Scheherazade
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Scheherazade is Black at 34.3%. The next largest groups are White (32.9%) and Two or More Races (13.6%). 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 Scheherazade 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 Scheherazade at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American34.3% · 48
- White32.9% · 46
- Two or more races13.6% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.1% · 17
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 10
Popularity
Scheherazade: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Scheherazade from the 1940s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 30 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Scheherazade 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 Scheherazade during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Scheherazade
Scheherazade is a renowned name that traces its origins to the Persian language and culture. The name gained immense popularity through the iconic collection of Middle Eastern folk tales, "One Thousand and One Nights" or "The Arabian Nights".
The name Scheherazade is derived from the Persian words "shahr" meaning "city" and "azad" meaning "free" or "noble". Together, the name signifies "the noble city" or "the free one of the city". This etymology reflects the character's noble and courageous spirit, as well as her role as the storyteller who captivated the Persian king with her mesmerizing tales.
Scheherazade is the central figure in the framing story of "One Thousand and One Nights". She is the wise and intelligent wife of the cruel Persian king Shahryar, who executes a new wife every night until Scheherazade begins to tell him enchanting stories, cleverly weaving cliffhangers to postpone her execution and ultimately changing the king's heart.
The earliest known reference to the name Scheherazade can be traced back to the 10th century, when the collection of tales was first compiled and written down. The character's name has been spelled in various ways, including Shahrazad, Sheherazade, and Scheherezade, reflecting the different transliterations from Persian to Arabic and other languages.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Scheherazade:
1. Scheherazade (10th century), the legendary storyteller in "One Thousand and One Nights".
2. Scheherazade Diba (born 1936), the first wife of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
3. Scheherazade Quitikian (born 1943), an Armenian-Iranian composer and pianist known for her works inspired by Persian poetry and folklore.
4. Scheherazade (1888), a symphonic suite composed by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, inspired by the tales of "One Thousand and One Nights".
5. Scheherazade Allahyari (born 1985), an Iranian-American artist and computer scientist known for her work in digital fabrication and 3D printing.
The name Scheherazade has endured through centuries, captivating audiences with its rich cultural heritage and symbolism of intelligence, bravery, and the power of storytelling.
People
Scheherazade + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Scheherazade as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Scheherazade: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Scheherazade?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Scheherazade 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 8,359,862 US residents.
Is Scheherazade a common name?
We classify Scheherazade as "Very Rare". It ranks above 51.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Scheherazade most popular?
The single biggest year for Scheherazade was 1968, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Scheherazade is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Scheherazade in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 140 people with the name Scheherazade, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #47,034 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 Scheherazade 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 Scheherazade?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Scheherazade leans strongly female. 144 people counted with this name were female (98.6%), compared with 2 male bearers (1.4%). 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 Scheherazade?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Scheherazade is Black at 34.3%. The next largest groups are White (32.9%) and Two or More Races (13.6%). 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 Scheherazade most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Scheherazade in the 2020 Census, accounting for 34.3% (48 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 Scheherazade in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Scheherazade a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Scheherazade in the SSA data are female. 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 Scheherazade still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Scheherazade 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 Scheherazade 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 common is the name Scheherazade?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Scheherazade at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.