Shaher
An Arabic name meaning "bright" or "brilliant one".
Name Census estimates that about 5 living Americans carry the first name Shaher. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shaher today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaher births was 2016 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaher. 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 Shaher. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
5
~ 1 in 68,550,868 Americans
Peak year
2016
5 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,875
Tracked since 2016
Census
Shaher in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 165 people with the first name Shaher, which placed it at #43,061 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
#43,061
National first-name rank
People counted
165
165 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaher
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaher is White at 67.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (24.8%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Shaher 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 Shaher at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.9% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander24.8% · 41
- Two or more races4.2% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 3
- Black or African American1.2% · 2
Popularity
Shaher: popularity over time
Babies born per year
Decades
Shaher 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 Shaher during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010s | 5 | 0 | 5 |
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaher
The name Shaher finds its origins in the Persian language, originating from the word "shahr" meaning "city" or "town." This name has its roots in ancient Persia, now modern-day Iran, and the surrounding regions of Central Asia and the Middle East.
The earliest known usage of the name Shaher can be traced back to the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which ruled from 550 BCE to 330 BCE. During this period, the name was often given to individuals who held positions of authority or governance within cities and urban settlements.
In ancient Persian literature, the name Shaher is mentioned in several texts, including the Shahnameh, an epic poem written by the renowned poet Ferdowsi in the late 10th century CE. The Shahnameh recounts the history of ancient Persia and includes references to individuals bearing this name.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shaher was Shaher ibn Husayn, a Persian nobleman and military leader who lived in the 9th century CE during the Abbasid Caliphate. He is known for his role in suppressing rebellions and maintaining order in various regions of the empire.
In the 11th century CE, Shaher al-Mulk was a prominent Persian statesman and vizier who served under the Seljuk Empire. He is credited with implementing significant administrative reforms and contributing to the cultural and intellectual development of the region.
During the Timurid Dynasty, which ruled in parts of Central Asia and Persia from the 14th to the 16th centuries, the name Shaher was associated with several notable scholars and poets. One such individual was Shaher Navayi, a renowned Uzbek poet and writer who lived from 1441 to 1501 and made significant contributions to the literary traditions of the region.
In more recent times, Shaher Abbas was a prominent Pakistani lawyer and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. He was born in 1904 and played a crucial role in shaping the country's political landscape during the turbulent years following its independence.
Another notable figure with the name Shaher is Shaher Bano Rizvi, an Indian social activist and women's rights advocate. Born in 1941, she has dedicated her life to empowering underprivileged women and promoting education and gender equality in India.
People
Shaher + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaher 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
Shaher: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaher?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaher 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 68,550,868 US residents.
Is Shaher a common name?
We classify Shaher as "Very Rare". It ranks above 18.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaher most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaher was 2016, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaher is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaher in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 165 people with the name Shaher, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,061 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 Shaher 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 Shaher?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaher leans strongly male. 132 people counted with this name were male (82.0%), compared with 29 female bearers (18.0%). 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 Shaher?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaher is White at 67.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (24.8%) and Two or More Races (4.2%). 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 Shaher most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shaher in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.9% (112 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 Shaher in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaher a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shaher 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 Shaher still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaher 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 Shaher 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 called Shaher?
You can see how many people have the name Shaher on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.