Shanan
Hebrew unisex name meaning "bright, shining one".
Name Census estimates that about 789 living Americans carry the first name Shanan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 85.8% of registrations being female. The average person named Shanan today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shanan births was 1970 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shanan. 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 Shanan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
789
~ 1 in 434,416 Americans
Peak year
1970
58 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
1992 SSA rank
#6,593
Tracked since 1955
Census
Shanan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 887 people with the first name Shanan, which placed it at #13,570 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
#13,570
National first-name rank
People counted
887
887 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shanan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shanan is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Shanan 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 Shanan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.3% · 650
- Black or African American11.2% · 99
- Two or more races6.0% · 53
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 41
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 32
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 12
Gender
Gender distribution for Shanan
Shanan leans heavily female at 85.8% of total registrations, but 123 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shanan as a male name
- Ranked #6,593 in 1992
- 8 male births in 1992
- Peak: 1975 (14 births)
Shanan as a female name
- Ranked #8,478 in 1998
- 11 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1970 (53 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shanan leans strongly female. 729 people counted with this name were female (81.6%), compared with 164 male bearers (18.4%).
Popularity
Shanan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shanan from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 449 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shanan 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 Shanan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shanans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Shanan, while Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shanan
The name Shanan is of Hebrew origin, with roots tracing back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "shanan," which means "to be repetitive" or "to be sharp." The name's earliest known usage dates back to the biblical era, where it was associated with the concept of repetition or sharpness in various contexts.
One notable historical reference to the name Shanan can be found in the Book of Psalms, where the word "shanan" is used to describe the sharpening of a sword or spear. This suggests that the name may have been associated with warriors or those skilled in combat during that era.
The earliest recorded individual with the name Shanan is believed to be Shanan ben Avner, a Jewish scholar who lived in the 11th century CE in the region of present-day Iraq. He is renowned for his contributions to the study of the Talmud and his commentaries on Jewish law.
In the 13th century, Shanan al-Quds was a prominent Islamic theologian and philosopher from Jerusalem. He was known for his works on Islamic ethics and his interpretation of the Quran.
During the Renaissance period, Shanan Baruch was an Italian painter and sculptor who lived in the 15th century. He is celebrated for his intricate woodcarvings and his contributions to the art and culture of the Italian Renaissance.
In the 19th century, Shanan Khayrallah was a prominent Lebanese writer and poet. He is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of modern Arabic literature and is celebrated for his lyrical and evocative poetry.
In more recent times, Shanan Streeter was an American basketball player who played in the WNBA during the early 2000s. She was known for her tenacity on the court and her dedication to the sport.
While the name Shanan has its roots in ancient Hebrew, it has since been adopted and used across various cultures and regions throughout history, with each individual leaving their unique mark and contributing to the rich tapestry of the name's legacy.
People
Shanan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shanan 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
Shanan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shanan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 789 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shanan 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 434,416 US residents.
Is Shanan a common name?
We classify Shanan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 868 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shanan most popular?
The single biggest year for Shanan was 1970, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shanan is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shanan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 887 people with the name Shanan, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,570 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 Shanan 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 Shanan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shanan leans strongly female. 729 people counted with this name were female (81.6%), compared with 164 male bearers (18.4%). 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 Shanan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shanan is White at 73.3%. The next largest groups are Black (11.2%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Shanan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shanan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.3% (650 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 Shanan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shanan a female name?
Yes, 85.8% of people registered as Shanan 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 Shanan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shanan 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 Shanan 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 Shanan?
You can see how many Americans are named Shanan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.