Shadell
A modern invented name combining shades of meaning including shadow and dell (small valley).
Name Census estimates that about 68 living Americans carry the first name Shadell. It is a predominantly female name (93.0% of registrations). The average person named Shadell today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shadell births was 1995 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shadell. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shadell. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
68
~ 1 in 5,040,505 Americans
Peak year
1995
11 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1995 SSA rank
#10,064
Tracked since 1975
Census
Shadell in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 154 people with the first name Shadell, which placed it at #44,677 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
#44,677
National first-name rank
People counted
154
154 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shadell
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shadell is Black at 80.5%. The next largest groups are White (8.4%) and Hispanic (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 Shadell 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 Shadell at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American80.5% · 124
- White8.4% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 9
- Two or more races3.2% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Shadell
Shadell leans heavily female at 93.0% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shadell as a male name
- Ranked #10,064 in 1995
- 5 male births in 1995
- Peak: 1995 (5 births)
Shadell as a female name
- Ranked #16,130 in 1998
- 5 female births in 1998
- Peak: 1989 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shadell on both sides of the split. Of the 151 people counted with this name, 41 were male (27.2%) and 110 were female (72.8%).
Popularity
Shadell: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shadell from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 39 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shadell 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 Shadell 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 Shadell
The name Shadell appears to have its origins in the Middle Eastern region, specifically in the Arabic language. It is believed to be a variation of the name Shaddad, which itself is derived from the Arabic root word "shadda," meaning "to strengthen" or "to reinforce."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shadell can be traced back to the 8th century CE, during the Abbasid Caliphate. It is mentioned in several Islamic texts and historical records from that era, often referring to scholars, poets, or military figures.
In the 10th century, a prominent Sufi mystic and poet from Persia named Shadell Ibn Abi al-Fawaris gained recognition for his spiritual writings and verses. He lived from 920 CE to 983 CE and was known for his profound insights into the mystical aspects of Islam.
During the 12th century, a mathematician and astronomer named Shadell al-Dimashqi made significant contributions to the field of celestial mechanics. He was born in Damascus in 1165 CE and is credited with developing advanced theories on the motion of planets and stars.
In the 16th century, a renowned calligrapher named Shadell al-Baghdadi emerged from Baghdad. His exquisite calligraphic works, particularly in the Naskh and Thuluth scripts, have been preserved in various museums and collections around the world. He lived from 1520 CE to 1591 CE.
Another notable figure bearing the name Shadell was a Moroccan explorer and traveler named Shadell Ibn Battuta, who lived from 1304 CE to 1369 CE. He is famous for his extensive travels across Africa, Asia, and parts of Europe, documenting his journeys in a celebrated travelogue known as the "Rihla."
While the name Shadell has its roots in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has also found its way into other regions and cultures over the centuries, albeit with slight variations in spelling and pronunciation.
People
Shadell + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shadell 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
Shadell: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shadell?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shadell 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 5,040,505 US residents.
Is Shadell a common name?
We classify Shadell as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 71 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shadell most popular?
The single biggest year for Shadell was 1995, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shadell is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shadell in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 154 people with the name Shadell, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,677 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 Shadell 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 Shadell?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shadell on both sides of the split. Of the 151 people counted with this name, 41 were male (27.2%) and 110 were female (72.8%). 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 Shadell?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shadell is Black at 80.5%. The next largest groups are White (8.4%) and Hispanic (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 Shadell most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shadell in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (124 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 Shadell in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shadell a female name?
Yes, 93.0% of people registered as Shadell 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 Shadell still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shadell 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 Shadell 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 Shadell as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Shadell, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.