Shawnae
A feminine variant of Shawn, derived from Irish Gaelic meaning "God is gracious".
Name Census estimates that about 336 living Americans carry the first name Shawnae. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shawnae today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shawnae births was 1998 (26 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shawnae. 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
336
~ 1 in 1,020,102 Americans
Peak year
1998
26 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2011 SSA rank
#16,480
Tracked since 1964
Popularity
Shawnae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shawnae from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 167 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
Shawnae 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 Shawnae 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 Shawnae
The name Shawnae is a feminine variant of the name Shawn, which has its origins in the Irish surname Ó Seaghain, derived from the Gaelic name Seaghán. Seaghán is the Irish form of the name John, which comes from the Hebrew name Yohanan, meaning "Yahweh is gracious."
The earliest recorded use of the name Shawnae dates back to the late 20th century in the United States. It is believed to have emerged as a variant of Shawn, with the added feminine ending "-ae" to create a distinct feminine form.
While there are no known historical figures specifically named Shawnae, there have been notable individuals who bore the name Shawn or its variants throughout history. One such individual was Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, born in 1768, who led a pan-tribal confederacy against the United States during the War of 1812.
Another notable figure was Shawn Fanning, born in 1980, who created the pioneering peer-to-peer file-sharing software Napster in 1999, revolutionizing the way music was distributed and consumed.
Shawn Michaels, born in 1965, is a former professional wrestler and one of the most celebrated performers in the history of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment). He was a multi-time world champion and is widely regarded as one of the greatest in-ring performers of all time.
Shawn Colvin, born in 1956, is an American singer-songwriter and Grammy Award winner known for her introspective and deeply personal songwriting. Her album "A Few Small Repairs" won the Grammy for Album of the Year in 1998.
Shawn Mendes, born in 1998, is a Canadian singer-songwriter who rose to fame through the video-sharing app Vine. He has since become a global pop sensation, with multiple hit singles and albums, and has won numerous awards, including multiple American Music Awards.
People
Shawnae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shawnae 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
Shawnae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shawnae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 336 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shawnae 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 1,020,102 US residents.
Is Shawnae a common name?
We classify Shawnae as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 352 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shawnae most popular?
The single biggest year for Shawnae was 1998, when 26 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shawnae is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shawnae a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shawnae 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.
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.