Shawnice
Beautiful; a name of Old French origin meaning "wooded place".
Name Census estimates that about 416 living Americans carry the first name Shawnice. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shawnice today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shawnice births was 1988 (45 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shawnice. 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
416
~ 1 in 823,929 Americans
Peak year
1988
45 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2009 SSA rank
#19,767
Tracked since 1966
Census
Shawnice in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 349 people with the first name Shawnice, which placed it at #26,600 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
#26,600
National first-name rank
People counted
349
349 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
79.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shawnice
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawnice is Black at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.0%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Shawnice 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 Shawnice at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American79.7% · 278
- Two or more races8.0% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 20
- White4.3% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 2
Popularity
Shawnice: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shawnice from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 234 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shawnice 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 Shawnice during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shawnices live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. Maryland, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Shawnice, while Pennsylvania, North Carolina, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 13 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shawnice
Shawnice is a relatively modern feminine given name that appears to have originated in the United States. Its roots can be traced back to the late 20th century, likely as a creative combination of the more traditional names Shaun and Janice.
The name itself does not seem to have any direct linguistic or cultural origins, making it a unique construction that emerged in the English-speaking world. It may have been influenced by the increasing popularity of blending existing names or creating new ones during that time period.
While there are no known historical references or mentions of Shawnice in ancient texts or religious scriptures, the name has gained some recognition in recent decades. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this first name was Shawnice Suttles, an American basketball player who played for the University of Mississippi in the early 2000s.
Another notable figure was Shawnice Wilson, an American singer and songwriter who rose to prominence in the late 2000s and early 2010s. She was known for her collaborations with various hip-hop and R&B artists.
Shawnice Cunningham, an American track and field athlete, made her mark in the early 2010s by competing in various national and international competitions, including the World Athletics Championships.
In the world of literature, Shawnice Meaders is an American author and poet who has published several works exploring themes of identity, family, and social justice.
Lastly, Shawnice Herron is an American entrepreneur and business owner who founded a successful fashion and lifestyle brand in the late 2010s, catering to a diverse clientele.
While these individuals may not be household names, they represent the diverse backgrounds and achievements associated with the name Shawnice throughout its relatively brief history.
People
Shawnice + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shawnice 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
Shawnice: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shawnice?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 416 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shawnice 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 823,929 US residents.
Is Shawnice a common name?
We classify Shawnice as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 435 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shawnice most popular?
The single biggest year for Shawnice was 1988, when 45 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shawnice is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shawnice in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 349 people with the name Shawnice, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,600 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 Shawnice 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 Shawnice?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shawnice appears almost entirely female. Of the 353 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Shawnice?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawnice is Black at 79.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (8.0%) and Hispanic (5.7%). 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 Shawnice most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shawnice in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.7% (278 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 Shawnice in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shawnice a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shawnice 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 Shawnice still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shawnice 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 Shawnice 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 Shawnice?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.