Shavonda
A feminine name of uncertain origin possibly meaning "she who is wondrous".
Name Census estimates that about 1,042 living Americans carry the first name Shavonda. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shavonda today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shavonda births was 1978 (94 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shavonda. 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
1.0K
~ 1 in 328,939 Americans
Peak year
1978
94 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2002 SSA rank
#17,692
Tracked since 1964
Census
Shavonda in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 882 people with the first name Shavonda, which placed it at #13,618 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
#13,618
National first-name rank
People counted
882
882 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
93.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shavonda
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shavonda is Black at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.7%) and White (1.8%). 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 Shavonda 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 Shavonda at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American93.7% · 826
- Two or more races2.7% · 24
- White1.8% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
Popularity
Shavonda: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shavonda from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 498 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
Shavonda 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 Shavonda during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shavondas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. North Carolina, Florida, Virginia recorded the most babies named Shavonda, while Alabama, Illinois, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 22 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shavonda
The name Shavonda is believed to have its origins in the African American community, emerging as a distinct name in the 20th century. While the exact derivation is unclear, it is thought to be a combination of the common African American names Sharon and Rhonda.
One theory suggests that Shavonda may be derived from the Swahili word "shavuona," which means "to witness" or "to observe." However, there is limited evidence to support a direct linguistic connection to the Swahili language. It is more likely that the name was created through a blending of existing names within the African American community.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shavonda dates back to the mid-20th century. One of the earliest notable individuals with this name was Shavonda Etheridge, an American basketball player born in 1962. She played college basketball for the University of Texas and had a brief professional career in Europe.
Another notable individual was Shavonda Gardner, an American model and actress born in 1964. She appeared in several films and television shows throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including "The Cosby Show" and "A Different World."
In the music industry, Shavonda Sumter is a contemporary American singer and songwriter. She has released several albums and singles, contributing to the neo-soul and R&B genres.
Shavonda Green is an American politician who served as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives from 2005 to 2011, representing the 158th district.
Shavonda Sisson is an American professional basketball coach who has worked with several college programs, including the University of North Carolina and the University of South Carolina.
While the name Shavonda gained popularity within the African American community in the latter half of the 20th century, it has not been widely adopted globally. Its use remains primarily concentrated in the United States, particularly in regions with significant African American populations.
People
Shavonda + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shavonda 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
Shavonda: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shavonda?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,042 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shavonda 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 328,939 US residents.
Is Shavonda a common name?
We classify Shavonda as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,117 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shavonda most popular?
The single biggest year for Shavonda was 1978, when 94 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shavonda is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shavonda in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 882 people with the name Shavonda, or 0.29 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,618 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 Shavonda 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 Shavonda?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shavonda appears almost entirely female. Of the 883 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Shavonda?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shavonda is Black at 93.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.7%) and White (1.8%). 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 Shavonda most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shavonda in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.7% (826 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 Shavonda in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shavonda a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shavonda 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 Shavonda still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shavonda 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 Shavonda 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 have the name Shavonda?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.