Shalen
A feminine name from the Sanskrit meaning "a hut" or "shelter".
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Shalen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 86.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Shalen today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shalen births was 1977 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shalen. 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 Shalen with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shalen. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
1977
9 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2006 SSA rank
#11,824
Tracked since 1976
Census
Shalen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 218 people with the first name Shalen, which placed it at #36,419 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
#36,419
National first-name rank
People counted
218
218 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
44.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shalen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shalen is White at 44.5%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.2%). 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 Shalen 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 Shalen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White44.5% · 97
- Black or African American22.0% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander14.2% · 31
- Two or more races9.6% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino7.3% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.3% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Shalen
Shalen leans heavily female at 86.7% of total registrations, but 11 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shalen as a male name
- Ranked #11,824 in 2006
- 6 male births in 2006
- Peak: 2006 (6 births)
Shalen as a female name
- Ranked #19,994 in 2008
- 5 female births in 2008
- Peak: 1977 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shalen on both sides of the split. Of the 220 people counted with this name, 92 were male (41.8%) and 128 were female (58.2%).
Popularity
Shalen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shalen from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 28 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Shalen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shalen 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 Shalen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shalen
The name Shalen is of Indo-European origin, derived from the Sanskrit word शलभ (shalabha), meaning "grasshopper" or "locust." Its earliest known usage dates back to ancient Hindu texts, where it was often used as a metaphorical reference to individuals with a restless or wandering spirit.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem dating back to the 8th century BCE. In this text, Shalen is mentioned as the name of a minor character, a wandering ascetic who imparts wisdom to the central heroes.
As Hinduism spread throughout the Indian subcontinent and beyond, the name Shalen gained popularity among various communities. It was particularly favored by members of the Brahmin caste, who saw the grasshopper's ability to traverse great distances as a symbol of spiritual enlightenment.
During the medieval period, several notable figures bore the name Shalen. One of the most prominent was Shalen Mishra (1018-1092), a renowned Hindu philosopher and commentator on the Vedas, considered one of the founding fathers of the Navya-Nyāya school of logic.
Another historical figure of note was Shalen Devi (1456-1524), a Rajput princess and accomplished poet from the Mewar region of present-day Rajasthan. Her collection of romantic verses, known as the "Shalen Rasamanjari," is regarded as a masterpiece of medieval Indian literature.
In the 16th century, a Mughal court musician named Shalen Khan (1525-1589) gained fame for his innovative contributions to the development of Hindustani classical music, particularly the khyal style of vocal performance.
As trade and cultural exchange between India and the West increased during the colonial era, the name Shalen also found its way into other languages and cultures. One notable example is Shalen de Silva (1799-1866), a Sri Lankan writer and translator who played a crucial role in introducing Western literature to the island nation.
While the name Shalen has retained its roots in South Asian cultures, it has also been adopted by individuals of diverse backgrounds, often drawn to its unique sound and historical significance.
People
Shalen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shalen 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
Shalen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shalen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shalen 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 4,338,663 US residents.
Is Shalen a common name?
We classify Shalen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 83 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shalen most popular?
The single biggest year for Shalen was 1977, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shalen is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shalen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 218 people with the name Shalen, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #36,419 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 Shalen 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 Shalen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shalen on both sides of the split. Of the 220 people counted with this name, 92 were male (41.8%) and 128 were female (58.2%). 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 Shalen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shalen is White at 44.5%. The next largest groups are Black (22.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (14.2%). 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 Shalen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shalen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 44.5% (97 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 Shalen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shalen a female name?
Yes, 86.7% of people registered as Shalen 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 Shalen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shalen 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 Shalen 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 Shalen?
Want to know how many Americans are named Shalen? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.