Shakala
A feminine Sanskrit name meaning "beautiful woman with flower-like eyes".
Name Census estimates that about 201 living Americans carry the first name Shakala. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shakala today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shakala births was 1992 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shakala. 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
201
~ 1 in 1,705,245 Americans
Peak year
1992
19 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2007 SSA rank
#20,062
Tracked since 1987
Census
Shakala in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 179 people with the first name Shakala, which placed it at #41,133 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
#41,133
National first-name rank
People counted
179
179 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shakala
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shakala is Black at 89.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Shakala 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 Shakala at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.4% · 160
- White5.6% · 10
- Two or more races2.2% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino1.7% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 2
Popularity
Shakala: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shakala 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 134 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Shakala remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shakala 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 Shakala 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 Shakala
The name Shakala is believed to have originated in ancient India, with its roots traced back to the Sanskrit language. It is thought to be derived from the word "shakala," which means "cluster" or "group." The name's linguistic origins can be traced back to the Vedic period, around 1500-500 BCE.
In ancient Indian texts, the name Shakala is mentioned in various contexts, often referring to groups or communities. It appears in several Hindu scriptures, including the Upanishads and the Puranas. However, there are no specific references to individuals bearing this name in these ancient texts.
The earliest recorded use of Shakala as a given name can be found in historical records from the Gupta Empire, which ruled over parts of the Indian subcontinent between the 4th and 6th centuries CE. During this period, the name was primarily associated with scholars, priests, and intellectuals.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Shakala was a renowned Hindu philosopher and commentator who lived during the 5th century CE. He is credited with writing several influential works on the Vedas and the Upanishads.
In the 9th century CE, there was a notable figure named Shakala who was a prominent Sanskrit scholar and grammarian. He is known for his contributions to the study of the Sanskrit language and its grammatical rules.
During the 12th century, a Shakala was a renowned poet and writer who composed several works in Sanskrit, including poems and plays. His literary works were highly regarded and celebrated in his time.
In the 16th century, a Shakala was a prominent astronomer and mathematician who made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and the calculation of planetary movements.
Another notable figure with the name Shakala was a military commander who served under the Mughal Empire in the 17th century. He played a crucial role in several military campaigns and was known for his strategic prowess on the battlefield.
People
Shakala + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shakala 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
Shakala: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shakala?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 201 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shakala 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 1,705,245 US residents.
Is Shakala a common name?
We classify Shakala as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 207 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shakala most popular?
The single biggest year for Shakala was 1992, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shakala 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 Shakala in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 179 people with the name Shakala, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #41,133 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 Shakala 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 Shakala?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shakala leans strongly female. 179 people counted with this name were female (97.8%), compared with 4 male bearers (2.2%). 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 Shakala?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shakala is Black at 89.4%. The next largest groups are White (5.6%) and Two or More Races (2.2%). 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 Shakala most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shakala in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.4% (160 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 Shakala in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shakala a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shakala 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 Shakala still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shakala 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 Shakala 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 share the name Shakala?
You can see how many people have the name Shakala on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.