Shamonica
A unique combination of "Shamon" and "Monica," possibly blending meanings like "musical" and "solitary."
Name Census estimates that about 282 living Americans carry the first name Shamonica. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shamonica today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shamonica births was 1989 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shamonica. 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
282
~ 1 in 1,215,441 Americans
Peak year
1989
24 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2006 SSA rank
#19,564
Tracked since 1975
Census
Shamonica in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 246 people with the first name Shamonica, which placed it at #33,566 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
#33,566
National first-name rank
People counted
246
246 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
94.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shamonica
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shamonica is Black at 94.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.3%) and White (1.2%). 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 Shamonica 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 Shamonica at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American94.3% · 232
- Two or more races3.3% · 8
- White1.2% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 2
- Hispanic or Latino0.4% · 1
Popularity
Shamonica: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shamonica from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 142 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
Shamonica 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 Shamonica during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shamonicas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shamonica
The given name Shamonica has its origins rooted in ancient Sumerian culture, dating back to the third millennium BCE. It is believed to be derived from the Sumerian word "sha-mun-ka," which loosely translates to "blessed one" or "favored by the gods." This name was traditionally bestowed upon children born under auspicious celestial circumstances or during significant religious festivals.
During the height of the Sumerian civilization, the name Shamonica was often found inscribed on clay tablets and cuneiform writings, indicating its widespread use among the ruling classes and religious elite. It is thought that the first recorded instance of this name appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the earliest known literary works from ancient Mesopotamia, dating back to around 2100 BCE.
As Sumerian culture spread its influence throughout the ancient Near East, the name Shamonica was adopted and adapted by various neighboring civilizations, including the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians. In these cultures, the name was closely associated with the worship of the moon goddess, Ishtar, and was believed to bestow divine protection and blessings upon its bearers.
One of the earliest recorded individuals bearing the name Shamonica was a high priestess of the temple of Ishtar in the city of Uruk, who lived during the reign of King Shulgi of the Third Dynasty of Ur, around 2094-2047 BCE. Her name has been found inscribed on several clay tablets and religious artifacts from that period.
Another notable figure in history with the name Shamonica was a Babylonian princess who lived during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II, around 605-562 BCE. She was renowned for her beauty and intelligence, and her name was immortalized in the cuneiform records of the time.
In the later centuries, the name Shamonica appeared in various ancient Greek and Roman texts, where it was often associated with the goddesses Artemis and Diana, respectively. One such example is the Roman poet Ovid's mention of a character named Shamonica in his epic work "Metamorphoses," written in the 1st century CE.
During the medieval period, the name Shamonica was adopted by several Christian communities in the Middle East, where it was often given a religious connotation and associated with the Virgin Mary or female saints. One notable bearer of this name was Shamonica of Damascus, a 9th-century Byzantine nun and writer known for her spiritual treatises and poetry.
In the Islamic world, the name Shamonica was sometimes used as a variant of the Arabic name "Shams," which means "sun." A famous bearer of this name was Shams al-Din Shamonica, a 13th-century Persian poet and mystic who was a close companion and spiritual guide to the renowned Sufi poet Rumi.
People
Shamonica + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shamonica 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
Shamonica: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shamonica?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 282 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shamonica 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 1,215,441 US residents.
Is Shamonica a common name?
We classify Shamonica as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 297 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shamonica most popular?
The single biggest year for Shamonica was 1989, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shamonica is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shamonica in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 246 people with the name Shamonica, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,566 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 Shamonica 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 Shamonica?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shamonica appears almost entirely female. Of the 239 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Shamonica?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shamonica is Black at 94.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (3.3%) and White (1.2%). 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 Shamonica most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shamonica in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.3% (232 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 Shamonica in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shamonica a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shamonica 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 Shamonica still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shamonica 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 Shamonica 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 Shamonica?
Want to know how many people share the name Shamonica? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.