Shawan
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "rising star" or "comet".
Name Census estimates that about 271 living Americans carry the first name Shawan. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 80.0% of registrations being female. The average person named Shawan today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shawan births was 1976 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shawan. 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
271
~ 1 in 1,264,776 Americans
Peak year
1976
22 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
2001 SSA rank
#9,130
Tracked since 1965
Census
Shawan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 391 people with the first name Shawan, which placed it at #24,576 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
#24,576
National first-name rank
People counted
391
391 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
70.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shawan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawan is Black at 70.1%. The next largest groups are White (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Shawan 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 Shawan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American70.1% · 274
- White17.6% · 69
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 18
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 16
- Two or more races2.6% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Shawan
Shawan is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 295 total registrations, 59 (20.0%) were male and 236 (80.0%) were female.
Shawan as a male name
- Ranked #12,031 in 2001
- 5 male births in 2001
- Peak: 1973 (6 births)
Shawan as a female name
- Ranked #9,130 in 1990
- 9 female births in 1990
- Peak: 1972 (19 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shawan on both sides of the split. Of the 387 people counted with this name, 141 were male (36.4%) and 246 were female (63.6%).
Popularity
Shawan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shawan from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 171 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
Shawan 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 Shawan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shawans live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shawan
The name Shawan is thought to have its origins in the Persian language, derived from the word "shavān," which means "falcon" or "hawk." This connection to birds of prey suggests a history rooted in the ancient cultures of the Middle East and Central Asia, where falconry was a revered tradition among the nobility and ruling classes.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shawan can be found in the 11th century Persian epic poem, the Shahnameh, which mentions a character named Shawan who was a skilled falconer in the court of the legendary king, Fereydun. This literary reference highlights the name's association with the art of falconry and its prominence in medieval Persian society.
In the 13th century, a prominent Sufi mystic and poet, Shawan al-Rumi, was born in the city of Konya, which is now part of modern-day Turkey. His works, which celebrated the spiritual path of Sufism, were widely influential and helped to spread the name's reach beyond the Persian cultural sphere.
During the 15th century, a famous calligrapher named Shawan al-Nuri was born in the city of Isfahan, Iran. His intricate and beautiful calligraphic works adorned many mosques and palaces throughout the region, cementing his place in the annals of Islamic art history.
In the 18th century, a notable Afghan scholar and historian, Shawan Khan, authored several important works on the history and culture of Afghanistan, including the "Tārīkh-e-Shāhān-e-Afghānistān" (History of the Kings of Afghanistan). His writings shed light on the region's rich heritage and contributed to the preservation of Afghan historical narratives.
Another notable figure bearing the name Shawan was Shawan Singh, a prominent Sikh military leader and courtier who lived in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He played a crucial role in the consolidation of Sikh power in the Punjab region of South Asia and was highly respected for his bravery and leadership skills.
These historical examples demonstrate the enduring presence of the name Shawan across various cultures and time periods, reflecting its deep roots in the Persian language and its associations with falconry, literature, art, scholarship, and military prowess.
People
Shawan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shawan 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
Shawan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shawan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shawan 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 1,264,776 US residents.
Is Shawan a common name?
We classify Shawan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shawan most popular?
The single biggest year for Shawan was 1976, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shawan is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shawan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 391 people with the name Shawan, or 0.13 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #24,576 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 Shawan 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 Shawan?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shawan on both sides of the split. Of the 387 people counted with this name, 141 were male (36.4%) and 246 were female (63.6%). 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 Shawan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawan is Black at 70.1%. The next largest groups are White (17.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (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 Shawan most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shawan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.1% (274 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 Shawan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shawan a female name?
Yes, 80.0% of people registered as Shawan 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 Shawan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shawan 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 Shawan 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 Shawan?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.