Quayshawn
A masculine name of possible African American origin meaning "strong runner".
Name Census estimates that about 173 living Americans carry the first name Quayshawn. It is a predominantly male name (97.2% of registrations). The average person named Quayshawn today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Quayshawn births was 1991 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Quayshawn. 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
173
~ 1 in 1,981,239 Americans
Peak year
1991
50 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2009 SSA rank
#13,989
Tracked since 1991
Census
Quayshawn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 149 people with the first name Quayshawn, which placed it at #45,514 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
#45,514
National first-name rank
People counted
149
149 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
91.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Quayshawn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quayshawn is Black at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and White (1.3%). 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 Quayshawn 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 Quayshawn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American91.3% · 136
- Two or more races4.7% · 7
- White1.3% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Quayshawn
Quayshawn leans heavily male at 97.2% of total registrations, but 5 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Quayshawn as a male name
- Ranked #13,989 in 2009
- 5 male births in 2009
- Peak: 1991 (45 births)
Quayshawn as a female name
- Ranked #14,778 in 1991
- 5 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1991 (5 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quayshawn leans strongly male. 143 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Quayshawn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Quayshawn from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 142 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
Quayshawn 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 Quayshawn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Quayshawns live
Origin
Meaning and history of Quayshawn
The given name Quayshawn has its roots in African American culture and is believed to have originated in the late 20th century. It is a unique and relatively modern name that is not directly derived from any specific language or ancient word.
The name Quayshawn is a combination of two elements: "Quay" and "Shawn." The first part, "Quay," may have been inspired by the word "quay," which refers to a landing place or a constructed bank or surface alongside a river or harbor where ships can load and unload cargo. This association potentially symbolizes a connection to water or a travel-related meaning.
The second part, "Shawn," is a common English variant of the traditional Irish name Seán or Séan, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan or John, meaning "God is gracious." The combination of these two elements may have been intended to create a name with a sense of uniqueness and cultural identity.
While there are no known historical references or appearances of the name Quayshawn in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it has been used by a handful of notable individuals in more recent times.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Quayshawn is Quayshawn Peltier, an American football player who played as a defensive end for the University of Tennessee in the early 2000s. Another person with this name is Quayshawn Vance, a professional basketball player from the United States who played in various international leagues.
Quayshawn Buchanan is an American actor and filmmaker, known for his roles in independent films and web series. He was born in the late 1980s and has been active in the entertainment industry since the mid-2000s.
Quayshawn Cunningham is an American artist and painter who gained recognition for his vibrant and expressive abstract works. He was born in the 1970s and has been exhibiting his artwork since the early 2000s.
Quayshawn Nealy is an American lawyer and legal scholar who has written extensively on issues related to criminal justice reform and racial inequality. He was born in the 1980s and has been a prominent voice in legal academia since the early 2010s.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Quayshawn throughout history, showcasing its unique and modern origins within the African American community.
People
Quayshawn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Quayshawn as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with Q
Other first names starting with Q with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Quayshawn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Quayshawn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 173 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Quayshawn 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 1,981,239 US residents.
Is Quayshawn a common name?
We classify Quayshawn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 177 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Quayshawn most popular?
The single biggest year for Quayshawn was 1991, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Quayshawn is about 30 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Quayshawn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 149 people with the name Quayshawn, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,514 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 Quayshawn 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 Quayshawn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Quayshawn leans strongly male. 143 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 2 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Quayshawn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Quayshawn is Black at 91.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.7%) and White (1.3%). 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 Quayshawn most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Quayshawn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.3% (136 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 Quayshawn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Quayshawn a male name?
Yes, 97.2% of people registered as Quayshawn in the SSA data are male. 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 Quayshawn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Quayshawn 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 Quayshawn 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 Quayshawn?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Quayshawn, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.