Shamane
Of African origin, meaning "spiritually grounded one".
Name Census estimates that about 20 living Americans carry the first name Shamane. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shamane today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shamane births was 1971 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shamane. 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 Shamane. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
20
~ 1 in 17,137,717 Americans
Peak year
1971
7 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
1983 SSA rank
#11,688
Tracked since 1968
Census
Shamane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 119 people with the first name Shamane, which placed it at #50,492 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
#50,492
National first-name rank
People counted
119
119 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
63.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shamane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shamane is Black at 63.9%. The next largest groups are White (25.2%) and Hispanic (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 Shamane 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 Shamane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American63.9% · 76
- White25.2% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino4.2% · 5
- Two or more races4.2% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 3
Popularity
Shamane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shamane from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 13 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Shamane remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shamane 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 Shamane 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 Shamane
The name Shamane has its origins in the ancient Afro-Asiatic language family, specifically the Semitic branch. It is believed to have emerged around the 3rd century BCE in the region that is now modern-day Syria and Lebanon. The name is derived from the Aramaic root word "sh-m-n," which means "to anoint" or "to consecrate with oil."
In ancient times, the name was closely associated with religious rituals and spiritual practices. It was often given to individuals who played a significant role in religious ceremonies, such as priests or shamans. The name is mentioned in several ancient texts, including the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Shamane can be found in the writings of Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian who lived in the 1st century CE. He mentions a high priest named Shamane who served in the Temple of Jerusalem during the Roman occupation of Judea.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Shamane. One of the most prominent was Shamane ibn Ismail al-Jalili (1070-1144), a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher from Persia. He wrote extensively on topics such as logic, metaphysics, and ethics, and his works had a significant impact on the development of Islamic thought.
Another historical figure named Shamane was a 13th-century Sufi mystic and poet from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey). Known as Shamane Rumi, he was renowned for his spiritual writings and his influence on the Mevlevi Order, a prominent Sufi brotherhood.
In the realm of literature, Shamane al-Jahiz (776-868) was a notable Arab prose writer and scholar from Basra, Iraq. He is considered one of the greatest Arabic writers of all time and is renowned for his works on zoology, poetry, and social commentary.
Lastly, Shamane ibn Ishaq al-Sarakhsi (d. 899) was a prominent Islamic jurist and scholar from Samarkand (modern-day Uzbekistan). He made significant contributions to the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence and authored several influential works on Islamic law.
These are just a few examples of the historical figures who have borne the name Shamane, highlighting its rich cultural and religious significance across various regions and time periods.
People
Shamane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shamane 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
Shamane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shamane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shamane 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 17,137,717 US residents.
Is Shamane a common name?
We classify Shamane as "Very Rare". It ranks above 39.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shamane most popular?
The single biggest year for Shamane was 1971, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shamane is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shamane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 119 people with the name Shamane, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,492 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 Shamane 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 Shamane?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shamane on both sides of the split. Of the 124 people counted with this name, 31 were male (25.0%) and 93 were female (75.0%). 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 Shamane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shamane is Black at 63.9%. The next largest groups are White (25.2%) and Hispanic (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 Shamane most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shamane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.9% (76 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 Shamane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shamane a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shamane 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 Shamane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shamane 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 Shamane 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 Shamane?
Find out how many people share the name Shamane on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.