Shona
A feminine name of Southern African origin representing beautiful flower.
Name Census estimates that about 2,149 living Americans carry the first name Shona. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shona today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shona births was 1970 (160 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shona. 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 Shona with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 159,495 Americans
Peak year
1970
160 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
2024 SSA rank
#14,973
Tracked since 1943
Census
Shona in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,440 people with the first name Shona, which placed it at #6,545 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
#6,545
National first-name rank
People counted
2.4K
2,440 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
63.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shona
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shona is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (22.7%) and Two or More Races (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 Shona 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 Shona at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White63.2% · 1,543
- Black or African American22.7% · 553
- Two or more races5.7% · 139
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino2.8% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 34
Popularity
Shona: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shona from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 958 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
Shona 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 Shona during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shonas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Shona, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 33 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shona
The name Shona originates from the Shona people, an ethnic group native to Zimbabwe and neighboring regions of southern Africa. The Shona language is a Bantu language spoken by the Shona people, and the name is derived from this linguistic tradition.
In the Shona language, the word "shona" means "to be humbled" or "to show respect." The name is thought to have been given to children as a way of instilling values of humility and respect from an early age. It is an ancient name with roots dating back centuries, reflecting the rich cultural heritage of the Shona people.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Shona can be traced back to historical accounts and records from the 16th century, during the era of the Mutapa Empire, a powerful kingdom that ruled over parts of present-day Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Shona was Shona Mupunzagutu, a renowned spiritual leader and advisor to the Mutapa rulers in the late 16th century. His influence and wisdom were widely respected throughout the kingdom.
In the 19th century, Shona Nehanda was a powerful female spiritual leader and revolutionary figure who played a crucial role in the First Chimurenga, a series of uprisings against British colonial rule in Zimbabwe. She is revered as a national heroine and symbol of resistance against oppression.
Another notable figure was Shona Nkomo, a prominent Zimbabwean politician and trade unionist who was a key figure in the country's struggle for independence from British rule in the 1960s and 1970s. He served as the Vice-President of Zimbabwe from 1987 to 1999.
In the literary realm, Shona Tsitsi Dangarembga is a celebrated Zimbabwean author and filmmaker. Her novel "Nervous Conditions," published in 1988, is considered a seminal work in African literature and has been widely acclaimed for its exploration of gender, race, and colonialism.
Shona Mashava was a renowned Zimbabwean sculptor who gained international recognition for his intricate stone carvings, which drew inspiration from the rich cultural traditions of the Shona people. His works are celebrated for their intricate details and symbolic representations of Shona mythology and spirituality.
People
Shona + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shona 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
Shona: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shona?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,149 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shona 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 159,495 US residents.
Is Shona a common name?
We classify Shona as "Rare". It ranks above 94% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,414 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shona most popular?
The single biggest year for Shona was 1970, when 160 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shona is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shona in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,440 people with the name Shona, or 0.81 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,545 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 Shona 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 Shona?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shona appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,442 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Shona?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shona is White at 63.2%. The next largest groups are Black (22.7%) and Two or More Races (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 Shona most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shona in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.2% (1,543 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 Shona in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shona a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shona 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 Shona still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shona 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 Shona 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 Shona?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Shona, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.