Shaylon
A variant spelling of the Scottish name Sheilah, meaning "heaven" or "heavenly".
Name Census estimates that about 245 living Americans carry the first name Shaylon. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 65.6% of registrations being female. The average person named Shaylon today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaylon births was 1990 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaylon. 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 Shaylon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
245
~ 1 in 1,398,997 Americans
Peak year
1990
18 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2012 SSA rank
#13,896
Tracked since 1979
Census
Shaylon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 328 people with the first name Shaylon, which placed it at #27,731 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
#27,731
National first-name rank
People counted
328
328 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
46.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaylon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaylon is Black at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Shaylon 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 Shaylon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American46.0% · 151
- White42.4% · 139
- Two or more races5.8% · 19
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 6
Gender
Gender distribution for Shaylon
Shaylon is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 253 total registrations, 87 (34.4%) were male and 166 (65.6%) were female.
Shaylon as a male name
- Ranked #13,896 in 2012
- 5 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1990 (10 births)
Shaylon as a female name
- Ranked #19,417 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 2001 (15 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shaylon on both sides of the split. Of the 325 people counted with this name, 127 were male (39.1%) and 198 were female (60.9%).
Popularity
Shaylon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaylon from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 94 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
Shaylon 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 Shaylon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaylon
The name Shaylon is believed to have originated from the ancient Sumerian language, which was spoken in the region of Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 3500 BC to 3000 BC. The name is derived from the Sumerian words "sha" meaning "to shine" and "lon" meaning "radiance" or "brilliance".
In the early days of Sumerian civilization, the name Shaylon was likely associated with the worship of celestial bodies, such as the sun, moon, and stars. The Sumerians were known for their advanced knowledge of astronomy and their reverence for celestial objects.
One of the earliest known references to the name Shaylon can be found in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest surviving works of literature. In this epic, Shaylon is mentioned as the name of a minor deity or spirit associated with the sun and its radiant energy.
Throughout the centuries, the name Shaylon has been carried by various individuals, both historical and mythological. One noteworthy figure was Shaylon of Nineveh, a Mesopotamian scholar and astronomer who lived in the 7th century BC. He is credited with making significant contributions to the study of celestial movements and the development of early calendars.
In the realm of mythology, Shaylon was also the name of a legendary warrior in ancient Persian folklore. According to the tales, Shaylon was a brave and valiant hero who fought against the forces of darkness and was revered for his unwavering courage and radiant spirit.
Another notable figure bearing the name Shaylon was a 12th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Persia. Although little is known about his life, his poetic works were greatly admired for their depth and spiritual insights, often using symbolic references to light and radiance.
During the Renaissance period, there was a Renaissance humanist scholar named Shaylon di Verona, born in 1438 in Verona, Italy. He was known for his translations of ancient Greek and Latin texts, as well as his contributions to the study of philosophy and the arts.
In more recent times, the name Shaylon has been carried by individuals from various cultures and backgrounds, though its use has been relatively uncommon. One example is Shaylon Tozer, a British artist and sculptor who lived from 1909 to 1995, known for her abstract and modernist works.
People
Shaylon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaylon 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
Shaylon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaylon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 245 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaylon 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 1,398,997 US residents.
Is Shaylon a common name?
We classify Shaylon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 253 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaylon most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaylon was 1990, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaylon is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaylon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 328 people with the name Shaylon, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,731 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 Shaylon 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 Shaylon?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shaylon on both sides of the split. Of the 325 people counted with this name, 127 were male (39.1%) and 198 were female (60.9%). 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 Shaylon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaylon is Black at 46.0%. The next largest groups are White (42.4%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Shaylon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shaylon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.0% (151 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 Shaylon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaylon a female name?
Yes, 65.6% of people registered as Shaylon 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 Shaylon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaylon 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 Shaylon 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 Shaylon?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.