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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Shannah with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Shannah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,231 people with the first name Shannah, which placed it at #10,696 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
#10,696
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shannah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shannah is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Shannah 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 Shannah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.2% · 864
- Black or African American13.4% · 165
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 73
- Two or more races5.8% · 72
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 23
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.
How common was Shannah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,231 people with the name Shannah, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,696 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 Shannah 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 Shannah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shannah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,234 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Shannah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shannah is White at 70.2%. The next largest groups are Black (13.4%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Shannah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shannah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.2% (864 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 Shannah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Shannah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shannah 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 Shannah 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 common is the name Shannah?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Shannah on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.