Shane
An Anglicized form of the Irish name Seáighán meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 185,751 living Americans carry the first name Shane. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Shane today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shane births was 1973 (5,932 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shane. 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 Shane with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Shane is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 3,583 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
186K
~ 1 in 1,845 Americans
Peak year
1973
5,932 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2024 SSA rank
#601
Tracked since 1933
Census
Shane in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 167,534 people with the first name Shane, which placed it at #331 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
#331
National first-name rank
People counted
168K
167,534 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
55.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shane
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shane is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Shane 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 Shane at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.3% · 139,542
- Two or more races4.6% · 7,713
- Black or African American4.6% · 7,689
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 7,347
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 3,239
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 2,004
Gender
Gender distribution for Shane
Shane leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 3,583 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shane as a male name
- Ranked #601 in 2024
- 473 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1973 (5,711 births)
Shane as a female name
- Ranked #13,216 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1973 (221 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shane leans strongly male. 164,680 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 2,859 female bearers (1.7%).
Popularity
Shane: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shane from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 51,544 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shane 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 Shane during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shanes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Pennsylvania, New York recorded the most babies named Shane, while District of Columbia, Vermont, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,764 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shane
The given name Shane has its origins in the Irish Gaelic language, derived from the Old Irish name Seaghain, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Seaghdha. The name Seaghdha is believed to have evolved from the Old Irish word "seadh," meaning "admirable" or "worthy."
In early medieval Ireland, the name Shane was primarily found among the Gaelic clans and families, particularly in the regions of Ulster and Connacht. Its earliest recorded use dates back to the 7th century, appearing in ancient Irish genealogies and annals.
While the name Shane does not have any direct references in religious scriptures or ancient texts, it has been associated with notable figures throughout Irish history. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Shane O'Neill (c. 1530-1567), an Irish prince and leader of the O'Neill dynasty, who led a rebellion against the English Crown in the 16th century.
Another prominent figure with the name Shane was Shane MacGowan (born 1957), the Irish singer-songwriter and lead singer of the iconic punk-folk band The Pogues. MacGowan's music has played a significant role in reviving and popularizing traditional Irish folk music on a global scale.
In the literary world, Shane Leslie (1885-1971) was an Irish writer, playwright, and diplomat who served as a member of the Irish Senate and as a representative to the League of Nations. His works often explored themes of Irish identity and culture.
Moving beyond Ireland, the name Shane has also been adopted in other cultures and contexts. One notable bearer was Shane Warne (1969-2022), the legendary Australian cricketer widely regarded as one of the greatest bowlers in the history of the sport.
In the realm of entertainment, Shane West (born 1978) is an American actor known for his roles in films like "A Walk to Remember" and the television series "ER" and "Nikita." The name Shane has also been used in various works of fiction, such as the classic Western novel "Shane" by Jack Schaefer, published in 1949.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Shane
People
Shane + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shane 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
Shane: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shane?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 185,751 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shane 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 1,845 US residents.
Is Shane a common name?
We classify Shane as "Common". It ranks above 99.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 195,726 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shane most popular?
The single biggest year for Shane was 1973, when 5,932 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shane is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shane in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 167,534 people with the name Shane, or 55.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #331 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 Shane 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 Shane?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shane leans strongly male. 164,680 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 2,859 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Shane?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shane is White at 83.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.6%) and Black (4.6%). 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 Shane most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shane in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.3% (139,542 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 Shane in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shane a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Shane 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 Shane still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shane 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 Shane 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 Shane?
Want to know how many people share the name Shane? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.