Shacora
A female name potentially derived from a combination of elements meaning "beautiful" and "heart".
Name Census estimates that about 310 living Americans carry the first name Shacora. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shacora today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shacora births was 1993 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shacora. 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.
People living today
310
~ 1 in 1,105,659 Americans
Peak year
1993
31 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2006 SSA rank
#12,259
Tracked since 1980
Census
Shacora in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 260 people with the first name Shacora, which placed it at #32,383 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
#32,383
National first-name rank
People counted
260
260 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shacora
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shacora is Black at 91.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and White (2.3%). 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 Shacora 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 Shacora at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.9% · 239
- Hispanic or Latino3.1% · 8
- White2.3% · 6
- Two or more races2.3% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
Popularity
Shacora: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shacora from the 1980s through to the 2000s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 185 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Shacora remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shacora 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 Shacora 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 Shacora
The name Shacora has its origins in the Yoruba language spoken in West Africa, particularly in present-day Nigeria. It is a combination of two words, "Sha" meaning "semi-precious" and "cora" meaning "gem" or "jewel." The name can be interpreted as "precious gem" or "semi-precious jewel."
While the exact time period of the name's emergence is uncertain, it is believed to have been in use among the Yoruba people for several centuries. The Yoruba culture is rich in tradition, and names often carry deep symbolic meanings and connections to the natural world.
Shacora does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures. However, its roots in the Yoruba language and culture suggest a longstanding tradition of bestowing meaningful names upon children.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Shacora are relatively modern, with the earliest known instances dating back to the late 20th century. It is possible that the name was in use earlier but not widely documented.
Historically, there are a few notable individuals who have carried the name Shacora:
1. Shacora Jones (born 1982), an American businesswoman and entrepreneur known for her work in the fashion industry.
2. Shacora Akujobi (born 1978), a Nigerian-American author and poet whose works explore themes of identity and cultural heritage.
3. Shacora Blackburn (born 1990), an American track and field athlete who specialized in sprinting events.
4. Shacora Kirkland (born 1985), an American visual artist known for her vibrant abstract paintings and mixed media works.
5. Shacora Thompson (born 1992), a Jamaican-American basketball player who played professionally in several countries.
These individuals, while not necessarily historically significant figures, represent the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of people who have been bestowed with the name Shacora.
People
Shacora + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shacora 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
Shacora: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shacora?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 310 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shacora 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 1,105,659 US residents.
Is Shacora a common name?
We classify Shacora as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 321 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shacora most popular?
The single biggest year for Shacora was 1993, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shacora is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shacora in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 260 people with the name Shacora, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #32,383 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 Shacora 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 Shacora?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shacora appears almost entirely female. Of the 256 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Shacora?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shacora is Black at 91.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.1%) and White (2.3%). 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 Shacora most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shacora in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.9% (239 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 Shacora in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shacora a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shacora 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 Shacora still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shacora 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 Shacora 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 named Shacora?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Shacora at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.