Shamon
Variant of the name Shamon meaning "humble" of Arabic origin.
Name Census estimates that about 769 living Americans carry the first name Shamon. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 82.5% of registrations being male. The average person named Shamon today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shamon births was 1997 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shamon. 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.
People living today
769
~ 1 in 445,714 Americans
Peak year
1997
33 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,859
Tracked since 1969
Census
Shamon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 636 people with the first name Shamon, which placed it at #17,376 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
#17,376
National first-name rank
People counted
636
636 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shamon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shamon is Black at 83.5%. The next largest groups are White (9.1%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Shamon 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 Shamon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.5% · 531
- White9.1% · 58
- Two or more races3.6% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Gender
Gender distribution for Shamon
Shamon leans heavily male at 82.5% of total registrations, but 140 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shamon as a male name
- Ranked #13,859 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 1998 (33 births)
Shamon as a female name
- Ranked #16,471 in 1999
- 5 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1978 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shamon on both sides of the split. Of the 631 people counted with this name, 485 were male (76.9%) and 146 were female (23.1%).
Popularity
Shamon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shamon from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 204 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
Shamon 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 Shamon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shamons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. California, North Carolina, Virginia recorded the most babies named Shamon, while Michigan, Illinois, Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 7 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shamon
The given name Shamon has its roots in the Sanskrit language, originating in ancient India around the 5th century BCE. It is derived from the word "shramana," which means "ascetic" or "one who labors for salvation." The name is closely associated with the Buddhist tradition, as it was often used to refer to Buddhist monks and spiritual seekers.
In the early centuries of Buddhism, the term "shramana" became synonymous with those who renounced worldly life and dedicated themselves to spiritual practices. The name Shamon was likely first used by Buddhist practitioners and followers in India as a way to identify and honor those who had taken vows of renunciation.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Shamon can be found in the Tripitaka, the sacred Buddhist scriptures. These texts, which date back to the 3rd century BCE, contain accounts of the Buddha's teachings and the lives of his disciples, some of whom may have borne the name Shamon.
Throughout the centuries, the name Shamon has been carried by various notable figures in Buddhist history. One such figure was Shamon Dōgen (1200-1253), a Japanese Zen Buddhist monk and founder of the Soto school of Zen. Another was Shamon Genjō Sanzō (688-763), a Chinese Buddhist monk and traveler who journeyed to India and brought back valuable Buddhist texts and relics.
In the realm of literature, the name Shamon appears in the works of the Japanese poet and monk Saigyo (1118-1190), who often used the term to refer to his fellow Buddhist practitioners. The name also features in the classic Japanese novel "The Tale of Genji," written in the early 11th century by Murasaki Shikibu.
Another prominent figure who bore the name Shamon was the Chinese Buddhist monk Shamon Xuanzang (602-664), whose pilgrimage to India in search of Buddhist teachings and texts was later immortalized in the famous Chinese novel "Journey to the West."
While the name Shamon may not be as common in modern times, it continues to hold significance within the Buddhist tradition and serves as a reminder of the ancient roots and spiritual ideals associated with this name.
People
Shamon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shamon 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
Shamon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shamon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 769 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shamon 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 445,714 US residents.
Is Shamon a common name?
We classify Shamon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 799 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shamon most popular?
The single biggest year for Shamon was 1997, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shamon is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shamon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 636 people with the name Shamon, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,376 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 Shamon 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 Shamon?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shamon on both sides of the split. Of the 631 people counted with this name, 485 were male (76.9%) and 146 were female (23.1%). 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 Shamon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shamon is Black at 83.5%. The next largest groups are White (9.1%) and Two or More Races (3.6%). 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 Shamon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shamon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.5% (531 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 Shamon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shamon a male name?
Yes, 82.5% of people registered as Shamon 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 Shamon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shamon 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 Shamon 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 Americans are named Shamon?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.