Shoshana
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "rose" or "lily".
Name Census estimates that about 5,333 living Americans carry the first name Shoshana. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shoshana today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shoshana births was 2022 (151 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shoshana. 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 Shoshana with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.3K
~ 1 in 64,270 Americans
Peak year
2022
151 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,796
Tracked since 1948
Census
Shoshana in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,999 people with the first name Shoshana, which placed it at #3,911 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
#3,911
National first-name rank
People counted
5.0K
4,999 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shoshana
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shoshana is White at 88.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Shoshana 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 Shoshana at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.7% · 4,432
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 175
- Black or African American3.1% · 157
- Two or more races2.8% · 142
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 56
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 37
Popularity
Shoshana: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shoshana from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,130 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shoshana remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shoshana 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 Shoshana during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shoshanas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 11 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Shoshana, while Texas, Michigan, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 349 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shoshana
The name Shoshana is a Hebrew name derived from the biblical name Shoshannah, which means "rose" or "lily" in Hebrew. This name has its origins in ancient Israel and is mentioned in the Song of Songs, a book in the Hebrew Bible.
The name Shoshana is thought to have been in use since ancient times in the region of ancient Israel, which is now modern-day Israel, the Palestinian territories, and parts of surrounding countries. It was likely used by Hebrew-speaking communities in this area for centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shoshana appears in the Book of Susanna, an apocryphal addition to the Book of Daniel in the Septuagint and Vulgate versions of the Bible. In this story, Susanna is a beautiful and virtuous woman who is falsely accused of adultery.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals named Shoshana. In the 12th century, Shoshana Hadayanti was a Jewish poet and philosopher who lived in Spain. She wrote religious poetry and philosophical works.
In the 16th century, Shoshana Shemesh was a Jewish scholar and teacher who lived in Safed, a city in what is now northern Israel. She was known for her expertise in Jewish law and taught many students.
In the 19th century, Shoshana Persitz was a Jewish writer and educator who lived in what is now Ukraine. She wrote works on Jewish history and culture and advocated for women's education.
In the 20th century, Shoshana Damari was a famous Israeli singer and actress who was born in 1923 and died in 2006. She was known for her powerful vocals and her interpretations of traditional Israeli and Yemenite Jewish songs.
Another notable Shoshana is Shoshana Zuboff, an American author and scholar who was born in 1951. She is known for her work on surveillance capitalism and the impact of digital technologies on society.
People
Shoshana + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shoshana 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
Shoshana: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shoshana?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,333 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shoshana 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 64,270 US residents.
Is Shoshana a common name?
We classify Shoshana as "Rare". It ranks above 96.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,557 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shoshana most popular?
The single biggest year for Shoshana was 2022, when 151 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shoshana is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shoshana in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,999 people with the name Shoshana, or 1.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,911 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 Shoshana 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 Shoshana?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shoshana appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,998 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Shoshana?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shoshana is White at 88.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.5%) and Black (3.1%). 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 Shoshana most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shoshana in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.7% (4,432 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 Shoshana in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shoshana a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shoshana 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 Shoshana still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shoshana 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 Shoshana 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 are named Shoshana?
See how many Americans are named Shoshana on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.