Shatara
A feminine Arabic name meaning "scattered" or "far-flung".
Name Census estimates that about 1,411 living Americans carry the first name Shatara. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shatara today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shatara births was 1986 (159 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shatara. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 242,916 Americans
Peak year
1986
159 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2011 SSA rank
#19,140
Tracked since 1971
Census
Shatara in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,122 people with the first name Shatara, which placed it at #11,421 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
#11,421
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,122 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
90.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shatara
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shatara is Black at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and White (3.1%). 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 Shatara 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 Shatara at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American90.5% · 1,015
- Two or more races3.6% · 40
- White3.1% · 35
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 27
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
Popularity
Shatara: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shatara from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 697 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
Shatara 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 Shatara during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shataras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Illinois, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Shatara, while Arkansas, Virginia, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 47 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shatara
The name Shatara is believed to have its origins in the Sanskrit language of ancient India. It is derived from the word "shatara," which means "one who is clever or skillful." This name likely emerged during the Vedic period, which spanned from around 1500 BCE to 500 BCE, and was a time of significant cultural and literary development in the Indian subcontinent.
Shatara is often associated with Hindu mythology and religious texts. In the Mahabharata, one of the two major Sanskrit epics, there is a character named Shatara who is described as a wise and learned sage. Additionally, the name appears in several ancient Hindu scriptures, such as the Upanishads and the Puranas, where it is used to describe individuals with exceptional wisdom and intelligence.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shatara dates back to the 5th century BCE, when it was found inscribed on ancient stone tablets and coins from the Maurya Empire, one of the largest and most influential empires in ancient India. During this period, the name was popular among the ruling classes and intellectual elite.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shatara. One of the earliest was Shatara Acharya (c. 700 CE), a renowned Hindu philosopher and scholar who made significant contributions to the study of Advaita Vedanta, a branch of Hindu philosophy. Another notable figure was Shatara Mishra (c. 1100 CE), a celebrated mathematician and astronomer who authored several important texts on these subjects.
In the medieval period, Shatara Devi (c. 1350 CE) was a powerful ruler of the Bahamani Sultanate in the Deccan region of India. She was known for her military prowess and her patronage of the arts and sciences. Centuries later, during the Mughal Empire, Shatara Khan (1580-1642) was a prominent military leader who served under the Emperor Shah Jahan and played a crucial role in the expansion of the empire.
More recently, Shatara Bai (1872-1936) was a pioneering Indian social reformer and educator who worked tirelessly to promote women's education and emancipation. She founded several schools and institutions for girls and played a vital role in the Indian independence movement.
People
Shatara + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shatara 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
Shatara: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shatara?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,411 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shatara 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 242,916 US residents.
Is Shatara a common name?
We classify Shatara as "Rare". It ranks above 92.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,479 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shatara most popular?
The single biggest year for Shatara was 1986, when 159 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shatara is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shatara in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,122 people with the name Shatara, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,421 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 Shatara 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 Shatara?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shatara appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,124 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Shatara?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shatara is Black at 90.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.6%) and White (3.1%). 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 Shatara most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shatara in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.5% (1,015 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 Shatara in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shatara a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shatara 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 Shatara still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shatara 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 Shatara 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 Shatara?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.