Shawne
Of English origin, a variant spelling of the name "Shawn".
Name Census estimates that about 1,090 living Americans carry the first name Shawne. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Shawne today is around 52 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shawne births was 1970 (65 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shawne. 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.
Key insights
- • Shawne was once a predominantly female name but has become increasingly popular for boys in recent decades.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 314,454 Americans
Peak year
1970
65 babies that year
Average age
52
years old
2008 SSA rank
#9,722
Tracked since 1948
Census
Shawne in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,030 people with the first name Shawne, which placed it at #12,181 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
#12,181
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,030 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shawne
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawne is White at 62.1%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Shawne 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 Shawne at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.1% · 640
- Black or African American27.3% · 281
- Two or more races5.0% · 52
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.6% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Shawne
Shawne is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,239 total registrations, 429 (34.6%) were male and 810 (65.4%) were female.
Shawne as a male name
- Ranked #9,722 in 2008
- 8 male births in 2008
- Peak: 1972 (29 births)
Shawne as a female name
- Ranked #11,593 in 1995
- 7 female births in 1995
- Peak: 1969 (47 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shawne on both sides of the split. Of the 1,026 people counted with this name, 334 were male (32.6%) and 692 were female (67.4%).
Popularity
Shawne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shawne from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 427 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
Shawne 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 Shawne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shawnes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Shawne, while Louisiana, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shawne
The name Shawne originates from the Irish language and is a variant spelling of the name Seán or Shane. It is derived from the ancient Irish Gaelic name Seán, which itself is derived from the old Celtic word "san" meaning "old" or "ancient".
The Irish name Seán can be traced back to the early medieval period, with some of the earliest recorded examples dating back to the 6th century AD. It was a popular name among Irish Christian monks and scholars during this time, and is believed to have been influenced by the popularity of various saints and religious figures with similar names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shawne is found in the Annals of Ulster, a medieval chronicle of Irish history, which mentions a "Shawne Mac Conchobhair" who was a prominent chieftain in the 12th century. Another notable early bearer of the name was Shawne O'Neill, a 16th-century Irish lord who played a significant role in the Nine Years' War against English rule in Ireland.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Shawne. In the 17th century, Shawne O'Donnell was a renowned Irish scholar and poet who wrote extensively in the Irish language. In the 18th century, Shawne O'Brien was a celebrated Irish harpist and composer who helped preserve traditional Irish music.
In more recent times, Shawne Merriman (born 1984) is an American former professional football player who played as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). Shawne Williams (born 1986) is an American professional basketball player who has played for several teams in the NBA.
Another notable bearer of the name is Shawne Fielding (born 1970), an American actress and model best known for her roles in films and television shows in the 1990s and early 2000s. Shawne Duperon (born 1968) is a Canadian filmmaker and director who has worked on numerous award-winning documentaries and short films.
People
Shawne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shawne 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
Shawne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shawne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,090 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shawne 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 314,454 US residents.
Is Shawne a common name?
We classify Shawne as "Rare". It ranks above 90.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,239 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shawne most popular?
The single biggest year for Shawne was 1970, when 65 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shawne is about 52 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shawne in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,030 people with the name Shawne, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,181 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 Shawne 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 Shawne?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shawne on both sides of the split. Of the 1,026 people counted with this name, 334 were male (32.6%) and 692 were female (67.4%). 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 Shawne?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawne is White at 62.1%. The next largest groups are Black (27.3%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Shawne most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shawne in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.1% (640 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 Shawne in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shawne a female name?
Yes, 65.4% of people registered as Shawne 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 Shawne still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shawne 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 Shawne 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 Shawne?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.