Shala
A Hindu feminine name meaning "abode" or "hut".
Name Census estimates that about 1,930 living Americans carry the first name Shala. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shala today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shala births was 1991 (89 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shala. 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 Shala with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 177,593 Americans
Peak year
1991
89 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2012 SSA rank
#16,538
Tracked since 1947
Census
Shala in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,003 people with the first name Shala, which placed it at #7,567 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
#7,567
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
2,003 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
48.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shala
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shala is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (34.4%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Shala 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 Shala at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White48.2% · 965
- Black or African American34.4% · 690
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 149
- Two or more races5.6% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 63
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 24
Popularity
Shala: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shala from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 670 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shala 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 Shala during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shalas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Shala, while Alabama, Washington, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shala
The name Shala has its origins in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. In Sanskrit, the word "shala" means "abode" or "dwelling place". It is believed to have been derived from the root word "shri", which signifies prosperity, wealth, and auspiciousness.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Shala can be found in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, where it is mentioned as the name of a village or settlement. This ancient text, which dates back to around the 8th century BCE, is a significant part of Hindu mythology and literature.
In the Buddhist tradition, Shala is also the name of a disciple of the Buddha, who is believed to have lived during the 5th century BCE. According to historical accounts, Shala was a brahmin (a member of the priestly class) who later became a follower of the Buddha's teachings.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shala. One of the most well-known was Shala, a 9th-century Indian mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the field of trigonometry. He is credited with introducing the concept of sine and cosine functions, which are fundamental in the study of trigonometry.
Another notable figure was Shala, a 12th-century Kashmiri poet and mystic who wrote extensively on the philosophy of Shaivism, a branch of Hinduism. Her works, such as the "Shala Sataka", are still studied and revered by scholars and devotees alike.
In more recent times, Shala was the name of a 16th-century Indian queen who ruled over the Bahmani Sultanate, a medieval Muslim kingdom in the Deccan region of South India. She was known for her political acumen and her patronage of the arts and literature.
Shala was also the name of a 19th-century Indian freedom fighter who participated in the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company. Her bravery and sacrifice for the cause of Indian independence have been documented in historical records.
Furthermore, Shala was the name of a 20th-century Indian classical dancer and choreographer who was instrumental in reviving and popularizing the traditional dance form of Bharatanatyam. Her contributions to the field of dance have been widely recognized and celebrated.
People
Shala + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shala 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
Shala: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shala?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,930 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shala 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 177,593 US residents.
Is Shala a common name?
We classify Shala as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,061 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shala most popular?
The single biggest year for Shala was 1991, when 89 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shala is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shala in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,003 people with the name Shala, or 0.66 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,567 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 Shala 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 Shala?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shala leans strongly female. 1,980 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 23 male bearers (1.1%). 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 Shala?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shala is White at 48.2%. The next largest groups are Black (34.4%) and Hispanic (7.4%). 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 Shala most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shala in the 2020 Census, accounting for 48.2% (965 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 Shala in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shala a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shala 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 Shala still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shala 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 Shala 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 share the name Shala?
Want to know how many Americans are named Shala? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.