Shadow
A female name meaning "shadow" derived from the English word.
Name Census estimates that about 1,064 living Americans carry the first name Shadow. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 54.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Shadow today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shadow births was 1993 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shadow. 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
- • Shadow sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
People living today
1.1K
~ 1 in 322,138 Americans
Peak year
1993
58 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,393
Tracked since 1974
Census
Shadow in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,029 people with the first name Shadow, which placed it at #12,193 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
#12,193
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,029 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shadow
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shadow is White at 62.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (9.4%). 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 Shadow 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 Shadow at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.1% · 639
- Hispanic or Latino10.5% · 108
- American Indian and Alaska Native9.4% · 97
- Two or more races8.5% · 87
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.9% · 50
- Black or African American4.7% · 48
Gender
Gender distribution for Shadow
Shadow is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,089 total registrations, 598 (54.9%) were male and 491 (45.1%) were female.
Shadow as a male name
- Ranked #6,393 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1993 (36 births)
Shadow as a female name
- Ranked #14,956 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1994 (24 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shadow on both sides of the split. Of the 1,031 people counted with this name, 554 were male (53.7%) and 477 were female (46.3%).
Popularity
Shadow: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shadow from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 458 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
Shadow 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 Shadow during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shadows live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shadow
The name Shadow has its roots in the Old English word "sceadu," which refers to the darkness created by the interception of light. This term can be traced back to the Proto-Germanic "skadwoz," which shares a similar meaning. The name itself emerged during the Middle Ages, primarily used as a descriptive moniker for individuals who lived in secluded or shady areas.
In ancient folklore and mythology, the concept of shadows often represented the realm of the unknown, the mysterious, and the otherworldly. In some cultures, shadows were believed to be representations of one's soul or essence, giving the name a profound symbolic significance.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shadow can be found in the 12th-century epic poem "The Song of Roland," where a minor character bears this moniker. However, it was not until the 16th and 17th centuries that the name gained more widespread use, particularly among the Puritan communities in England and the American colonies.
Notable historical figures with the name Shadow include Shadow Watkins (1641-1710), an English Puritan minister and author known for his sermons and theological writings. Another prominent figure was Shadow Winfield (1785-1853), an American frontiersman and explorer who played a crucial role in the westward expansion of the United States.
In the realm of literature, the name Shadow gained prominence through the works of William Shakespeare. In his play "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the character of Puck, also known as Robin Goodfellow, is referred to as "Shadow" on several occasions, symbolizing his mischievous and elusive nature.
Another notable individual bearing this name was Shadow Hawkins (1892-1972), an African-American artist and sculptor whose works explored themes of identity, struggle, and resilience during the Harlem Renaissance.
Furthermore, the name Shadow has been associated with various counterculture movements and subcultures, particularly in the 20th century. It was adopted by some individuals as a way to express their identity as outsiders or rebels, embracing the connotations of mystery and nonconformity.
While the name Shadow may not be as common as some other names, it has a rich history and symbolic significance, reflecting the enduring fascination with the enigmatic and the unseen aspects of human existence.
People
Shadow + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shadow 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
Shadow: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shadow?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,064 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shadow 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 322,138 US residents.
Is Shadow a common name?
We classify Shadow as "Rare". It ranks above 90.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,089 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shadow most popular?
The single biggest year for Shadow was 1993, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shadow is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shadow in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,029 people with the name Shadow, or 0.34 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,193 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 Shadow 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 Shadow?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shadow on both sides of the split. Of the 1,031 people counted with this name, 554 were male (53.7%) and 477 were female (46.3%). 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 Shadow?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shadow is White at 62.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (9.4%). 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 Shadow most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shadow in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.1% (639 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 Shadow in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shadow a male name?
Yes, 54.9% of people registered as Shadow 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 Shadow still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shadow 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 Shadow 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 common is the name Shadow?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.