Shaolin
A masculine name of Chinese origin referring to a famous Buddhist monastery.
Name Census estimates that about 66 living Americans carry the first name Shaolin. It is a predominantly female name (92.5% of registrations). The average person named Shaolin today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaolin births was 1999 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaolin. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shaolin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
66
~ 1 in 5,193,248 Americans
Peak year
1999
13 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
1996 SSA rank
#10,298
Tracked since 1995
Census
Shaolin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 244 people with the first name Shaolin, which placed it at #33,765 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
#33,765
National first-name rank
People counted
244
244 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
43.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaolin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaolin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.9%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Two or More Races (10.7%). 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 Shaolin 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 Shaolin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander43.9% · 107
- Black or African American23.0% · 56
- Two or more races10.7% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino10.2% · 25
- White9.0% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.3% · 8
Gender
Gender distribution for Shaolin
Shaolin leans heavily female at 92.5% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shaolin as a male name
- Ranked #10,298 in 1996
- 5 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1996 (5 births)
Shaolin as a female name
- Ranked #19,581 in 2006
- 5 female births in 2006
- Peak: 1999 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shaolin on both sides of the split. Of the 249 people counted with this name, 111 were male (44.6%) and 138 were female (55.4%).
Popularity
Shaolin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaolin from the 1990s through to the 2000s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 36 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shaolin 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 Shaolin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaolin
The given name Shaolin has its origins in Chinese culture, specifically in the Shaolin Monastery located in Henan province, China. The name is derived from the Shaoshi Mountain, where the famous Buddhist monastery was established in the 5th century AD.
The Shaolin Monastery is renowned for its association with Shaolin Kung Fu, a traditional Chinese martial art that has been practiced and taught within its walls for centuries. The name Shaolin became closely linked with this martial arts tradition and the disciplined lifestyle of the Buddhist monks residing at the monastery.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Shaolin can be found in the Continued Biographies of Eminent Monks, a historical text compiled during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD). This text mentions the Shaolin Monastery and its resident monks, indicating the name's long-standing association with the religious and cultural traditions of the region.
Over the centuries, the name Shaolin has been carried by several notable individuals, primarily martial artists and practitioners of Shaolin Kung Fu. One of the most famous figures was Chuko Mori (1885-1939), a Japanese martial artist and one of the first to introduce Shaolin Kung Fu to Japan. He played a significant role in popularizing the art and establishing the name's recognition in the martial arts world.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Shaolin was Wong Shun Leung (1935-1997), a renowned Shaolin Kung Fu master and monk who trained at the Shaolin Monastery in his youth. He later became one of the foremost teachers of Shaolin Kung Fu, teaching and promoting the art around the world.
In the realm of literature, the name Shaolin gained prominence through the work of Robert Sheckley, an American author known for his science fiction and satirical writing. His novel Shaolin: The eighth deadly sin, published in 1986, explored themes of martial arts and spirituality, further cementing the name's association with the ancient traditions of the Shaolin Monastery.
Additionally, the name Shaolin has been used by several contemporary martial artists and practitioners, such as Shaolin Kung Fu master Shi Yan Xiang (born 1950), who has dedicated his life to preserving and teaching the authentic Shaolin martial arts.
The Shaolin Monastery and its associated martial arts have also been featured in numerous films and television series, further popularizing the name and its cultural significance. Notable examples include the renowned martial arts film series "Shaolin Temple" and the popular television show "Kung Fu."
People
Shaolin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaolin 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
Shaolin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaolin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 66 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaolin 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 5,193,248 US residents.
Is Shaolin a common name?
We classify Shaolin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 67 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaolin most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaolin was 1999, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaolin is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaolin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 244 people with the name Shaolin, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,765 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 Shaolin 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 Shaolin?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shaolin on both sides of the split. Of the 249 people counted with this name, 111 were male (44.6%) and 138 were female (55.4%). 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 Shaolin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaolin is Asian/Pacific Islander at 43.9%. The next largest groups are Black (23.0%) and Two or More Races (10.7%). 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 Shaolin most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Shaolin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.9% (107 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 Shaolin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaolin a female name?
Yes, 92.5% of people registered as Shaolin 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 Shaolin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaolin 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 Shaolin 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 are named Shaolin?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.