Shakira
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "grateful".
Name Census estimates that about 7,980 living Americans carry the first name Shakira. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shakira today is around 30 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shakira births was 2002 (512 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shakira. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Shakira with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.0K
~ 1 in 42,952 Americans
Peak year
2002
512 babies that year
Average age
30
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,181
Tracked since 1970
Census
Shakira in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,552 people with the first name Shakira, which placed it at #2,974 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
#2,974
National first-name rank
People counted
7.6K
7,552 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
65.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shakira
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shakira is Black at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.1%) and White (5.0%). 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 Shakira 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 Shakira at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American65.7% · 4,963
- Hispanic or Latino21.1% · 1,596
- White5.0% · 380
- Two or more races3.8% · 289
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 267
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 57
Popularity
Shakira: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shakira 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 2,796 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
Shakira 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 Shakira during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shakiras live
The SSA's state-level files cover 32 states and territories. New York, Florida, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Shakira, while Washington, Oklahoma, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 199 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shakira
The name Shakira is believed to have originated from the Arabic language, and its roots can be traced back to the Middle Eastern region. It is derived from the Arabic word "Shukr," which means "grateful" or "thankful."
In Islamic tradition, the name Shakira is often associated with gratefulness and appreciation towards Allah (God). It carries a spiritual and religious significance, reflecting the virtues of gratitude and contentment.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Shakira can be found in various historical texts and records from the medieval era. It was a name commonly used in the Arab world, particularly in regions like the Middle East and North Africa.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Shakira was Shakira bint Al-Husayn, a 7th-century Arab poetess who lived during the Umayyad Caliphate. She was renowned for her eloquent poetry and her contributions to the literary culture of her time.
Another notable figure was Shakira bint Abi Bakr, a 9th-century Arab female scholar and jurist who played a significant role in the development of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh). She was highly respected for her knowledge and intellect.
In the 12th century, Shakira Al-Andalusiyah was a renowned Andalusian poet and writer who lived in Seville, Spain, during the era of the Almoravid dynasty. Her works were celebrated for their lyrical beauty and deep emotional expression.
During the 14th century, Shakira Al-Qurashiyah was a prominent scholar and poet from the city of Damascus, Syria. She was known for her expertise in various fields, including literature, poetry, and Islamic studies.
In more recent times, one of the most famous individuals with the name Shakira is the Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, born in 1977. She is a globally renowned artist and has achieved tremendous success in the music industry, becoming one of the best-selling Latin music artists of all time.
While the name Shakira has its origins in the Arabic language and Islamic culture, it has transcended cultural boundaries and gained popularity worldwide, embraced by people from diverse backgrounds and regions.
People
Shakira + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shakira 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
Shakira: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shakira?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,980 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shakira 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 42,952 US residents.
Is Shakira a common name?
We classify Shakira as "Rare". It ranks above 97.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,263 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shakira most popular?
The single biggest year for Shakira was 2002, when 512 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shakira 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 Shakira in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,552 people with the name Shakira, or 2.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,974 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 Shakira 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 Shakira?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shakira appears almost entirely female. Of the 7,544 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Shakira?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shakira is Black at 65.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (21.1%) and White (5.0%). 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 Shakira most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shakira in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.7% (4,963 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 Shakira in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shakira a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shakira 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 Shakira still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shakira 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 Shakira 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 Shakira as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Shakira, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.