Shannen
Little old one, a derived diminutive of Shannon.
Name Census estimates that about 1,973 living Americans carry the first name Shannen. It is a predominantly female name (92.8% of registrations). The average person named Shannen today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shannen births was 1993 (225 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shannen. 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 Shannen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 173,722 Americans
Peak year
1993
225 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2012 SSA rank
#13,890
Tracked since 1961
Census
Shannen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,087 people with the first name Shannen, which placed it at #7,338 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
#7,338
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,087 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shannen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shannen is White at 65.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.0%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Shannen 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 Shannen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.1% · 1,359
- Black or African American12.0% · 250
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 179
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.4% · 175
- Two or more races5.1% · 106
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 18
Gender
Gender distribution for Shannen
Shannen leans heavily female at 92.8% of total registrations, but 150 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shannen as a male name
- Ranked #13,890 in 2012
- 5 male births in 2012
- Peak: 1991 (10 births)
Shannen as a female name
- Ranked #17,240 in 2023
- 5 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1993 (216 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shannen leans strongly female. 1,918 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 177 male bearers (8.4%).
Popularity
Shannen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shannen 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 1,018 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
Shannen 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 Shannen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shannens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Shannen, while Missouri, Connecticut, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 43 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shannen
The name Shannen is believed to have originated from the Irish Gaelic name Seánín, which is a diminutive form of the name Seán, meaning "God is gracious." It can also be traced back to the Old Irish name Siodhánach, meaning "old" or "ancient."
The name Shannen first appeared in historical records during the Middle Ages in Ireland, where it was commonly used as a masculine name. One of the earliest known references to the name can be found in the Annals of the Four Masters, a historical chronicle compiled in the 17th century, which mentions a Shannen O'Donnell from County Donegal in the 14th century.
As time passed, the name Shannen gradually transitioned into a feminine name, particularly in the English-speaking world. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name being used for a female was Shannen Doherty, an American actress born in 1971, who rose to fame for her roles in the television series "Beverly Hills, 90210" and "Charmed."
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shannen, including Shannen Koostachin (1986-2010), a Canadian activist and advocate for Indigenous rights who fought for better education facilities in her community. Another notable figure was Shannen Baker (1988-2019), an American singer-songwriter and musician known for her work with the band Hey Violet.
In the literary world, Shannen was the name of a character in the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger, published in 1951. The character, although minor, contributed to the book's exploration of adolescent angst and disillusionment.
Other notable individuals with the name Shannen include Shannen Fergus (born 1982), an Australian professional golfer, and Shannen Moser (born 1986), an American professional wrestler better known by her ring name Maria Kanellis.
While the name Shannen has Irish roots, it has gained popularity across various cultures and regions, transcending its original linguistic and geographical boundaries. The name's evolution from a masculine to a feminine form reflects the dynamic nature of language and cultural influences over time.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Shannen
People
Shannen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shannen 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
Shannen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shannen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,973 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shannen 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 173,722 US residents.
Is Shannen a common name?
We classify Shannen as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,071 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shannen most popular?
The single biggest year for Shannen was 1993, when 225 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shannen is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shannen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,087 people with the name Shannen, or 0.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,338 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 Shannen 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 Shannen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shannen leans strongly female. 1,918 people counted with this name were female (91.6%), compared with 177 male bearers (8.4%). 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 Shannen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shannen is White at 65.1%. The next largest groups are Black (12.0%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Shannen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shannen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.1% (1,359 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 Shannen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shannen a female name?
Yes, 92.8% of people registered as Shannen 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 Shannen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shannen 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 Shannen 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 have Shannen as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Shannen, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.