Shaheen
A masculine Arabic name meaning "peregrine falcon" or "soaring eagle".
Name Census estimates that about 689 living Americans carry the first name Shaheen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 79.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Shaheen today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaheen births was 1989 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaheen. 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 Shaheen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
689
~ 1 in 497,466 Americans
Peak year
1989
27 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,839
Tracked since 1971
Census
Shaheen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,017 people with the first name Shaheen, which placed it at #7,530 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
#7,530
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,017 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
68.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaheen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaheen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 68.5%. The next largest groups are White (18.5%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Shaheen 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 Shaheen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander68.5% · 1,382
- White18.5% · 374
- Two or more races5.3% · 107
- Black or African American4.9% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 56
Gender
Gender distribution for Shaheen
Shaheen is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 713 total registrations, 570 (79.9%) were male and 143 (20.1%) were female.
Shaheen as a male name
- Ranked #4,839 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (23 births)
Shaheen as a female name
- Ranked #15,686 in 1997
- 5 female births in 1997
- Peak: 1984 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shaheen on both sides of the split. Of the 2,017 people counted with this name, 665 were male (33.0%) and 1,352 were female (67.0%).
Popularity
Shaheen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaheen from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 196 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Shaheen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shaheen 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 Shaheen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaheens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Shaheen, while Texas, New York, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 24 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaheen
The name Shaheen is derived from the Persian word 'shahīn,' which means 'falcon' or 'a royal falcon.' This name has its roots in the ancient Persian culture and can be traced back to the Achaemenid Empire, which ruled over a vast territory from 550 BCE to 330 BCE.
The falcon was a symbol of strength, courage, and nobility in Persian culture, and the name Shaheen was often given to royal princes or warriors. The name gained popularity throughout the Middle East and Central Asia, where falconry was a revered sport among the ruling classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shaheen can be found in the epic Persian poem "Shahnameh" (Book of Kings), written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century CE. The poem mentions a character named Shaheen, who was a brave warrior and a skilled falconer.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Shaheen. One of the most famous was Shaheen Taj (1768-1838), a celebrated Urdu poet and courtier from the Mughal Empire. His collection of poetry, known as "Kulliyat-e-Shaheen," is considered a literary masterpiece.
Another notable bearer of the name was Shaheen Suhrawardy (1892-1963), a prominent Bengali statesman and one of the leading figures in the movement for the independence of Bangladesh. He served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 to 1957.
In the field of aviation, Shaheen Raza (1927-1986) was a pioneering Pakistani aviator and the first female military pilot from the subcontinent. She earned the distinction of being the first Pakistani woman to fly a jet aircraft.
Shaheen Jafargholi (born 1997) is a British singer and actor of Iranian descent, who rose to fame as a child star after appearing on the television show "Britain's Got Talent" in 2009.
Shaheen Sadeghi (born 1956) is an Iranian-American businessman and philanthropist, known for his work in promoting education and cultural exchange between the United States and Iran.
The name Shaheen continues to be popular in various parts of the world, particularly in the Middle East, South Asia, and among Persian and Muslim communities. Its connection to the noble falcon and its historical significance have made it a cherished name across generations.
People
Shaheen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaheen 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
Shaheen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaheen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 689 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaheen 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 497,466 US residents.
Is Shaheen a common name?
We classify Shaheen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 713 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaheen most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaheen was 1989, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaheen is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaheen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,017 people with the name Shaheen, or 0.67 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,530 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 Shaheen 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 Shaheen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shaheen on both sides of the split. Of the 2,017 people counted with this name, 665 were male (33.0%) and 1,352 were female (67.0%). 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 Shaheen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaheen is Asian/Pacific Islander at 68.5%. The next largest groups are White (18.5%) and Two or More Races (5.3%). 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 Shaheen most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Shaheen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.5% (1,382 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 Shaheen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaheen a male name?
Yes, 79.9% of people registered as Shaheen 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 Shaheen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaheen 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 Shaheen 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 have the name Shaheen?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.