Shavelle
A French name meaning "beautiful" or "radiant".
Name Census estimates that about 117 living Americans carry the first name Shavelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shavelle today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shavelle births was 1988 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shavelle. 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.
People living today
117
~ 1 in 2,929,524 Americans
Peak year
1988
17 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2014 SSA rank
#18,825
Tracked since 1966
Census
Shavelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 200 people with the first name Shavelle, which placed it at #38,397 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
#38,397
National first-name rank
People counted
200
200 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
66.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shavelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shavelle is Black at 66.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.0%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Shavelle 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 Shavelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American66.5% · 133
- White14.0% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino9.0% · 18
- Two or more races6.5% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.5% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Shavelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shavelle from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 53 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
Shavelle 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 Shavelle 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 Shavelle
The name Shavelle has its origins in the Sanskrit language of ancient India. It is derived from the word "shava," which means "corpse" or "dead body," and the suffix "-elle," which is believed to have been added during the medieval period in Europe.
During the classical period of Indian history, the name was associated with individuals involved in the ritual of cremation or those who worked with the dead. It is mentioned in several Hindu scriptures and texts, particularly those related to the caste system and the duties of specific professions.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shavelle dates back to the 8th century CE, found in a manuscript describing the lives of various ascetics and spiritual practitioners in the region of present-day Rajasthan, India. One notable individual mentioned in the text is Shavelle Goswami, a renowned scholar and philosopher who lived during the latter half of the 8th century.
In the 11th century, a famous poet and playwright known as Shavelle Bhatta gained prominence in the court of King Bhoja of the Paramara dynasty. His works, which included plays and poetic compositions, are still studied and celebrated in Indian literary circles today.
During the Mughal period in the 16th century, a skilled architect and engineer named Shavelle Khan was responsible for the construction of several notable buildings, including portions of the Red Fort in Delhi. His innovative architectural techniques and attention to detail earned him widespread recognition and patronage from the Mughal emperors.
In the 18th century, a prominent figure in the field of Ayurvedic medicine was Shavelle Vaidya, whose contributions to the study and practice of traditional Indian medicine were widely acclaimed. His treatises and formulations were highly influential and are still referenced by practitioners of Ayurveda today.
Another notable individual bearing the name Shavelle was a renowned martial artist and teacher from the 19th century. Shavelle Guruji was revered for his mastery of various Indian martial arts, particularly Kalaripayattu, and his teachings were sought after by students from across the subcontinent.
People
Shavelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shavelle 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
Shavelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shavelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 117 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shavelle 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 2,929,524 US residents.
Is Shavelle a common name?
We classify Shavelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 122 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shavelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Shavelle was 1988, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shavelle is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shavelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 200 people with the name Shavelle, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #38,397 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 Shavelle 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 Shavelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shavelle leans strongly female. 179 people counted with this name were female (92.7%), compared with 14 male bearers (7.3%). 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 Shavelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shavelle is Black at 66.5%. The next largest groups are White (14.0%) and Hispanic (9.0%). 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 Shavelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shavelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.5% (133 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 Shavelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shavelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shavelle 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 Shavelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shavelle 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 Shavelle 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 Shavelle?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.