Shakur
Arabic name meaning "thankful" or "grateful".
Name Census estimates that about 1,569 living Americans carry the first name Shakur. It is a predominantly male name (99.4% of registrations). The average person named Shakur today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shakur births was 1997 (128 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shakur. 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 Shakur with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 218,454 Americans
Peak year
1997
128 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,386
Tracked since 1987
Census
Shakur in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,003 people with the first name Shakur, which placed it at #12,411 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
#12,411
National first-name rank
People counted
1.0K
1,003 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shakur
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shakur is Black at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.1%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Shakur 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 Shakur at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.1% · 833
- Two or more races7.1% · 71
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 45
- White2.9% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Shakur
Out of the 1,591 babies given the name Shakur since 1880, 99.4% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Shakur as a male name
- Ranked #2,386 in 2024
- 59 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (119 births)
Shakur as a female name
- Ranked #9,664 in 1997
- 9 female births in 1997
- Peak: 1997 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shakur leans strongly male. 973 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 36 female bearers (3.6%).
Popularity
Shakur: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shakur from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 547 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Shakur remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shakur 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 Shakur during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shakurs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Shakur, while South Carolina, Louisiana, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shakur
The name Shakur has its origins in the Arabic language. It is derived from the Arabic word 'shakara' which means 'to be thankful' or 'to express gratitude'. The name is believed to have emerged in the Middle East during the early centuries of the Islamic era.
Shakur is mentioned in religious Islamic texts, including the Quran, as a name or attribute of God, referring to His quality of being the Most Appreciative or the Bestower of Gratitude. In the Quran, the name appears in verses such as Surah Ibrahim (14:5) and Surah Fatir (35:30).
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shakur was Shakur ibn Rabi'ah, a renowned Arabic poet who lived in the 7th century CE. He was known for his eloquent verses and is considered one of the most influential poets of the Umayyad era.
Another notable historical figure with the name Shakur was Shakur al-Nabil, a prominent Arab philosopher and theologian who lived in the 9th century CE. He was a disciple of the famous scholar Al-Ghazali and made significant contributions to the field of Islamic philosophy.
In the 12th century, Shakur al-Dimashqi was a notable Syrian architect and engineer. He is credited with the construction of several notable buildings, including the Citadel of Aleppo, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Moving to more recent times, Shakur Stevenson is an American professional boxer who was born in 1997. He won a silver medal in the featherweight division at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has since won multiple world championship titles in the professional ranks.
Tupac Amaru Shakur, born in 1971 and tragically killed in 1996, was a renowned American rapper, actor, and activist. He is considered one of the most influential and iconic figures in the history of hip-hop music, and his poetry and lyrics often explored themes of social injustice, violence, and the struggles of urban life.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Shakur throughout history, each leaving their mark in their respective fields and contributing to the rich tapestry of cultures and societies across the globe.
People
Shakur + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shakur 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
Shakur: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shakur?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,569 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shakur 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 218,454 US residents.
Is Shakur a common name?
We classify Shakur as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,591 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shakur most popular?
The single biggest year for Shakur was 1997, when 128 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shakur is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shakur in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,003 people with the name Shakur, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,411 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 Shakur 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 Shakur?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shakur leans strongly male. 973 people counted with this name were male (96.4%), compared with 36 female bearers (3.6%). 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 Shakur?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shakur is Black at 83.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.1%) and Hispanic (4.5%). 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 Shakur most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shakur in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.1% (833 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 Shakur in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shakur a male name?
Yes, 99.4% of people registered as Shakur 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 Shakur still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shakur 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 Shakur 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 the name Shakur?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.