Sharon
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "Plain" or "Fertile Valley".
Name Census estimates that about 477,218 living Americans carry the first name Sharon. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharon today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharon births was 1947 (28,590 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharon. 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 Sharon with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sharon is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 3,106 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Sharon is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sharons were born before 1969.
- • Compared to the 1950s, recent registration numbers for Sharon have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
477K
~ 1 in 718 Americans
Peak year
1947
28,590 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
2022 SSA rank
#1,232
Tracked since 1900
Census
Sharon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 583,753 people with the first name Sharon, which placed it at #72 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
#72
National first-name rank
People counted
584K
583,753 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
193.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharon is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (13.2%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Sharon 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 Sharon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.3% · 462,967
- Black or African American13.2% · 76,959
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 14,435
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 13,027
- Two or more races2.2% · 12,660
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 3,705
Gender
Gender distribution for Sharon
Out of the 725,947 babies given the name Sharon since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sharon as a male name
- Ranked #12,089 in 2022
- 6 male births in 2022
- Peak: 1944 (97 births)
Sharon as a female name
- Ranked #1,232 in 2024
- 190 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1947 (28,533 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharon appears almost entirely female. Of the 583,755 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sharon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharon from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 233,301 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharon 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 Sharon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sharons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Illinois recorded the most babies named Sharon, while Alaska, Nevada, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14,133 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharon
The name Sharon has its origins in the Hebrew language and can be traced back to ancient times. The name is derived from the Hebrew word "sharon," which means "plain" or "level ground." It is believed that the name was initially associated with the fertile coastal region known as the Sharon Plain, located in present-day Israel.
In biblical texts, the Sharon Plain is mentioned several times, including in the Book of Isaiah and the Song of Songs. The prophet Isaiah referred to the region as a place of great beauty and fertility, describing it as a place where "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose" (Isaiah 35:1). This association with a lush and fruitful land may have contributed to the positive connotations of the name Sharon.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharon can be found in the Bible, where it appears as the name of a district or region. There is also a mention of a woman named Sharon in the Book of Proverbs, though her identity and significance are unclear.
Throughout history, the name Sharon has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest known was Sharon, the daughter of Caleb, mentioned in the Book of Numbers in the Bible. Another early bearer of the name was Sharon, a dancer and entertainer during the reign of King Herod in the 1st century BCE.
In more recent times, some famous individuals named Sharon include:
1. Sharon Tate (1943-1969), an American actress and model who was tragically murdered by members of the Manson Family cult.
2. Sharon Stone (born 1958), an American actress known for her roles in films like "Basic Instinct" and "Casino."
3. Sharon Osbourne (born 1952), an English television personality and wife of rock star Ozzy Osbourne.
4. Sharon Olds (born 1942), an American poet and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2013.
5. Sharon Van Etten (born 1981), an American singer-songwriter and musician known for her indie rock and folk music.
While the name Sharon has roots in ancient Hebrew culture, it has gained widespread popularity and recognition across various regions and ethnicities over the centuries. The name's association with a fertile and beautiful land has likely contributed to its enduring appeal and positive connotations.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sharon
People
Sharon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharon 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
Sharon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 477,218 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharon 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 718 US residents.
Is Sharon a common name?
We classify Sharon as "Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 725,947 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharon most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharon was 1947, when 28,590 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharon is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 583,753 people with the name Sharon, or 193.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #72 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 Sharon 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 Sharon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharon appears almost entirely female. Of the 583,755 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Sharon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharon is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (13.2%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Sharon most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sharon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (462,967 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 Sharon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharon a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Sharon 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 Sharon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharon 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 Sharon 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 Sharon?
Find out how many Americans are named Sharon on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.