Shanna
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "beautiful" or "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 25,966 living Americans carry the first name Shanna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shanna today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shanna births was 1978 (1,855 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shanna. 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 Shanna with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Shanna is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 88 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Shanna have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
26K
~ 1 in 13,200 Americans
Peak year
1978
1,855 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1985 SSA rank
#7,415
Tracked since 1931
Census
Shanna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 24,893 people with the first name Shanna, which placed it at #1,398 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
#1,398
National first-name rank
People counted
25K
24,893 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
8.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shanna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shanna is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Shanna 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 Shanna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.5% · 19,040
- Black or African American11.8% · 2,926
- Two or more races4.6% · 1,140
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 971
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 479
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 337
Gender
Gender distribution for Shanna
Out of the 28,365 babies given the name Shanna since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Shanna as a male name
- Ranked #7,415 in 1985
- 5 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1974 (12 births)
Shanna as a female name
- Ranked #10,132 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1978 (1,845 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,889 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Shanna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shanna from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 10,166 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shanna 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 Shanna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shannas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Shanna, while Vermont, Delaware, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 500 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shanna
The name Shanna has its origins in the Irish language and culture. It is a variant of the name Siobhan, which is derived from the ancient Irish Gaelic word "siobhán," meaning "God's grace" or "born of life and fire." The name Shanna first emerged in Ireland during the medieval period, around the 12th or 13th century.
While the name Shanna does not have any direct references in ancient Irish texts or religious scriptures, its root word "siobhán" can be traced back to early Irish folklore and mythology. The name was likely inspired by the Celtic goddess of fire and fertility, known as Siobhan or Síbhín.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Shanna can be found in Irish historical records and genealogical records dating back to the 15th and 16th centuries. However, the name did not gain widespread popularity until much later, particularly in the 20th century.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Shanna was Shanna Caughey, an Irish painter and artist who lived in the late 18th century. Her works are preserved in various galleries and museums in Ireland.
Another famous Shanna was Shanna Kress, a French reality television personality and social media influencer, born in 1986. She gained popularity for her appearances on several French reality shows in the early 2010s.
In the literary world, Shanna Compton is an American poet and author, born in 1970. She is known for her collections of poetry, including "Brink" and "Gamers: Writers' Lives."
Shanna Zolman, born in 1984, is a former American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for teams like the San Antonio Silver Stars and the Indiana Fever.
Lastly, Shanna Jacobson, born in 1975, is a Canadian actress best known for her roles in television shows like "Supernatural" and "Battlestar Galactica."
People
Shanna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shanna 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
Shanna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shanna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 25,966 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shanna 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 13,200 US residents.
Is Shanna a common name?
We classify Shanna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 28,365 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shanna most popular?
The single biggest year for Shanna was 1978, when 1,855 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shanna is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shanna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 24,893 people with the name Shanna, or 8.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,398 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 Shanna 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 Shanna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shanna appears almost entirely female. Of the 24,889 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Shanna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shanna is White at 76.5%. The next largest groups are Black (11.8%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Shanna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shanna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.5% (19,040 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 Shanna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shanna a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Shanna 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 Shanna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shanna 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 Shanna 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 Americans are named Shanna?
See how many people share the name Shanna on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.