Shavon
A feminine name of French origin meaning "little blonde one".
Name Census estimates that about 4,024 living Americans carry the first name Shavon. It is a predominantly female name (91.4% of registrations). The average person named Shavon today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shavon births was 1979 (368 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shavon. 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 Shavon with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.0K
~ 1 in 85,178 Americans
Peak year
1979
368 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2017 SSA rank
#12,000
Tracked since 1958
Census
Shavon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,095 people with the first name Shavon, which placed it at #4,517 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
#4,517
National first-name rank
People counted
4.1K
4,095 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shavon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shavon is Black at 73.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Shavon 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 Shavon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.6% · 3,013
- White15.7% · 643
- Hispanic or Latino4.8% · 197
- Two or more races4.3% · 178
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 39
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 25
Gender
Gender distribution for Shavon
Shavon leans heavily female at 91.4% of total registrations, but 368 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shavon as a male name
- Ranked #12,000 in 2017
- 6 male births in 2017
- Peak: 1993 (42 births)
Shavon as a female name
- Ranked #12,285 in 2019
- 8 female births in 2019
- Peak: 1979 (358 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shavon leans strongly female. 3,769 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 330 male bearers (8.1%).
Popularity
Shavon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shavon from the 1950s through to the 2010s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,858 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
Shavon 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 Shavon during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shavons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. New York, Illinois, California recorded the most babies named Shavon, while Wisconsin, Missouri, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 94 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shavon
The name Shavon is a variant of the name Sharon, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. The name Sharon is derived from the Hebrew word "שָׁרוֹן" (Sharon), which refers to a fertile plain located between the mountains of central Israel and the Mediterranean coast.
In ancient times, the Sharon Plain was renowned for its lush vegetation and abundant flora, making it a symbol of fertility and natural beauty. The name Sharon was often associated with these qualities and was considered a desirable name for girls.
The earliest recorded instance of the name Sharon can be traced back to the Bible, where it is mentioned as a geographical location. In the Book of Isaiah, the prophet refers to the "glory of Sharon" (Isaiah 35:2), a reference to the plain's natural splendor.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Sharon or its variants. One of the earliest examples is Sharon, the daughter of King David in the Old Testament. Another notable Sharon is Sharon Olds, an American poet born in 1942, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 2013.
The variant spelling Shavon likely emerged as a creative adaptation of the name Sharon. While its exact origin is unclear, it may have been influenced by other names or cultural traditions.
One prominent individual with the name Shavon is Shavon Shields, an American professional basketball player born in 1994. Shavon Shields played college basketball for the University of Nebraska and was selected in the 2016 NBA draft by the Kansas City Wizards (now known as the Washington Wizards).
Another notable Shavon is Shavon Sampson, an American actress and singer born in 1984. She is best known for her role as Felicia Jones in the television series The Parkers.
Shavon Evers is a former professional basketball player from the United States, born in 1989. She played collegiately for the University of Texas at El Paso and had a brief professional career in Europe.
Shavon Bethel is an American singer and songwriter born in 1991. She gained recognition for her participation in the reality singing competition The Voice in 2013.
Shavon Buckingham is a British actress and model born in 1987. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including the crime drama series Peaky Blinders.
People
Shavon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shavon 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
Shavon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shavon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,024 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shavon 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 85,178 US residents.
Is Shavon a common name?
We classify Shavon as "Rare". It ranks above 96% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,267 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shavon most popular?
The single biggest year for Shavon was 1979, when 368 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shavon is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shavon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,095 people with the name Shavon, or 1.36 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,517 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 Shavon 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 Shavon?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shavon leans strongly female. 3,769 people counted with this name were female (91.9%), compared with 330 male bearers (8.1%). 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 Shavon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shavon is Black at 73.6%. The next largest groups are White (15.7%) and Hispanic (4.8%). 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 Shavon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shavon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.6% (3,013 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 Shavon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shavon a female name?
Yes, 91.4% of people registered as Shavon 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 Shavon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shavon 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 Shavon 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 Shavon?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Shavon at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.