Shannah
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "to forgive or pardon".
Name Census estimates that about 1,286 living Americans carry the first name Shannah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shannah today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shannah births was 1978 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shannah. 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
1.3K
~ 1 in 266,527 Americans
Peak year
1978
51 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2014 SSA rank
#14,333
Tracked since 1945
Popularity
Shannah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shannah from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 382 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
Shannah 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 Shannah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shannahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Shannah, while Massachusetts, Florida, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shannah
The name Shannah has its origins in the Hebrew language. It is a feminine name derived from the Hebrew word "shannah," which means "year" or "yearly." The name is believed to have emerged during the ancient times of the Hebrew people, who were known for their rich cultural and religious traditions.
In the Hebrew scriptures, the word "shannah" appears several times, often in the context of agricultural cycles and seasonal festivals. This connection to the annual cycle of nature and the passage of time may have contributed to the name's symbolic meaning and its eventual use as a personal name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shannah can be found in the Book of Esther, a part of the Hebrew Bible. In this text, there is a character named Shannah, who is mentioned as one of the servants of King Ahasuerus during the Persian Empire around the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shannah. One of the earliest known figures was Shannah ben Avithal, a renowned Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in the 9th century CE in present-day Morocco. He was known for his contributions to the study of Jewish law and ethics.
In the 12th century, there was Shannah the Wise, a Jewish mystic and kabbalist from Spain. She was celebrated for her spiritual teachings and her efforts to preserve Jewish mystical traditions during a time of persecution and expulsion.
During the Renaissance period, Shannah Rothschild (1469-1542) was a notable figure in the world of finance and banking. She was part of the influential Rothschild family and played a significant role in establishing their banking empire across Europe.
In more recent times, Shannah Novak (1923-2009) was an American author and journalist who wrote extensively about her experiences growing up in a Jewish family in the Midwest. Her memoir, "Shannah's World," provided insights into Jewish-American life in the early 20th century.
Another notable figure was Shannah Feigen (1920-2002), a Polish-born American painter and sculptor known for her abstract expressionist works. Her art explored themes of identity, memory, and the human experience, and her pieces are held in various museum collections around the world.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have carried the name Shannah throughout history, each contributing to their respective fields and leaving a lasting legacy.
People
Shannah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shannah 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
Shannah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shannah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,286 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shannah 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 266,527 US residents.
Is Shannah a common name?
We classify Shannah as "Rare". It ranks above 91.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,378 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shannah most popular?
The single biggest year for Shannah was 1978, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shannah is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shannah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shannah 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.
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.