Shaunte
A feminine name with uncertain origin, potentially meaning "she walks".
Name Census estimates that about 1,678 living Americans carry the first name Shaunte. It is a predominantly female name (95.1% of registrations). The average person named Shaunte today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaunte births was 1978 (124 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaunte. 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
- • Although Shaunte is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 88 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 204,264 Americans
Peak year
1978
124 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
1990 SSA rank
#9,292
Tracked since 1967
Census
Shaunte in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,505 people with the first name Shaunte, which placed it at #9,293 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
#9,293
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,505 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
78.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaunte
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaunte is Black at 78.0%. The next largest groups are White (9.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Shaunte 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 Shaunte at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American78.0% · 1,174
- White9.0% · 136
- Two or more races5.9% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 68
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 23
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 15
Gender
Gender distribution for Shaunte
Shaunte leans heavily female at 95.1% of total registrations, but 88 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shaunte as a male name
- Ranked #9,292 in 1990
- 5 male births in 1990
- Peak: 1978 (14 births)
Shaunte as a female name
- Ranked #18,725 in 2015
- 5 female births in 2015
- Peak: 1978 (110 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaunte leans strongly female. 1,407 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 100 male bearers (6.6%).
Popularity
Shaunte: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaunte from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 883 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
Shaunte 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 Shaunte during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shauntes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Shaunte, while Alabama, North Carolina, Missouri recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 52 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaunte
The given name Shaunte has its origins rooted in the French language and culture, tracing back to the late 16th century. It is believed to be a variation of the French name Chantal, which itself is derived from the Latin name Cantiana. Cantiana was likely a regional name referring to the area of Kent in England, which was known as Cantia during the Roman era.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shaunte can be found in the historical records of the French city of Lyon, where a woman named Shaunte Delacroix was mentioned in a document dated 1597. This suggests that the name had already gained some popularity in France by the late Renaissance period.
While the name Shaunte does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its French roots and connection to the name Chantal have led some scholars to speculate that it may have been influenced by the veneration of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, a 17th-century French Catholic nun and founder of the Visitation Order.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shaunte. One of the earliest recorded examples is Shaunte Bourgeois (1612-1679), a French painter and engraver who gained recognition for her still-life paintings and portraits during the Baroque period.
Another prominent figure was Shaunte Duval (1718-1784), a French composer and violinist who served as the court musician to Louis XV. Her compositions, particularly her violin concertos, were highly regarded during her lifetime.
In the 19th century, Shaunte Desbordes-Valmore (1786-1859) was a renowned French poet and novelist, known for her lyrical and emotional works that explored themes of love, loss, and the human condition.
Moving into the 20th century, Shaunte Charpentier (1901-1987) was a prominent French artist and sculptor, best known for her abstract and cubist-inspired works that challenged traditional notions of form and space.
Lastly, Shaunte Caron (1925-2015) was a French fashion designer and businesswoman who founded the iconic Parisian fashion house, Caron. Her elegant and sophisticated designs were favored by many high-profile clients, including Hollywood celebrities and European royalty.
While the name Shaunte has French origins, its historical usage has transcended national boundaries, with individuals from various cultural backgrounds embracing this unique and elegant name throughout the centuries.
People
Shaunte + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaunte 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
Shaunte: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaunte?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,678 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaunte 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 204,264 US residents.
Is Shaunte a common name?
We classify Shaunte as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,786 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaunte most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaunte was 1978, when 124 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaunte is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaunte in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,505 people with the name Shaunte, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,293 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 Shaunte 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 Shaunte?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaunte leans strongly female. 1,407 people counted with this name were female (93.4%), compared with 100 male bearers (6.6%). 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 Shaunte?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaunte is Black at 78.0%. The next largest groups are White (9.0%) and Two or More Races (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 Shaunte most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shaunte in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.0% (1,174 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 Shaunte in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaunte a female name?
Yes, 95.1% of people registered as Shaunte 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 Shaunte still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaunte 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 Shaunte 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 Americans are named Shaunte?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.