Shadrach
A male name of Hebrew origin meaning "servant of Aku" (the Babylonian god).
Name Census estimates that about 744 living Americans carry the first name Shadrach. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shadrach today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shadrach births was 2008 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shadrach. 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
744
~ 1 in 460,691 Americans
Peak year
2008
26 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,166
Tracked since 1916
Popularity
Shadrach: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shadrach from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 197 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Shadrach remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shadrach 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 Shadrach during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shadrachs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Texas, Utah recorded the most babies named Shadrach, while Utah, Texas, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 5 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shadrach
The given name Shadrach has its origins in the ancient Semitic languages of the Middle East. It is a biblical name that first appears in the Book of Daniel from the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament. The name is derived from the Akkadian word "Shudur-Aku," which means "command of Aku," with Aku being the name of the Babylonian god of wisdom and light.
In the Book of Daniel, Shadrach is one of the three Hebrew men, along with Meshach and Abednego, who refused to worship the golden idol erected by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. As punishment, they were thrown into a fiery furnace, but they were miraculously saved by divine intervention. This biblical story has made Shadrach a symbolic name representing faith, courage, and deliverance from trials.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shadrach dates back to the 6th century BCE during the Babylonian captivity of the Hebrews. Throughout history, the name has been borne by several notable individuals, including:
1. Shadrach Furlong (1630-1712), an English Quaker preacher and writer from Wiltshire, England.
2. Shadrach Sweeten (1768-1835), an American Revolutionary War soldier and frontiersman from Pennsylvania.
3. Shadrach Bassett (1798-1886), an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Connecticut.
4. Shadrach Minkins (c. 1814-1875), an African American fugitive slave whose legal case in 1851 became a significant event in the abolitionist movement in the United States.
5. Shadrach Woods (1923-2008), an American blues singer and guitarist from Mississippi, known for his work with Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters.
Throughout its history, the name Shadrach has been associated with resilience, faith, and overcoming adversity, drawing inspiration from the biblical story of the three men who survived the fiery furnace. It has been used across different cultures and religions, with varying spellings and pronunciations, but its symbolic meaning has remained consistent over time.
People
Shadrach + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shadrach 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
Shadrach: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shadrach?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 744 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shadrach 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 460,691 US residents.
Is Shadrach a common name?
We classify Shadrach as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 775 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shadrach most popular?
The single biggest year for Shadrach was 2008, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shadrach is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shadrach a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shadrach 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.
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.