Shawnia
A feminine name derived from a surname meaning "from the dweller by the woods".
Name Census estimates that about 158 living Americans carry the first name Shawnia. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shawnia today is around 38 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shawnia births was 1996 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shawnia. 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
158
~ 1 in 2,169,331 Americans
Peak year
1996
18 babies that year
Average age
38
years old
2003 SSA rank
#13,615
Tracked since 1967
Census
Shawnia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 189 people with the first name Shawnia, which placed it at #39,747 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
#39,747
National first-name rank
People counted
189
189 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
43.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shawnia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawnia is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Black (36.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (6.9%). 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 Shawnia 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 Shawnia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White43.4% · 82
- Black or African American36.5% · 69
- American Indian and Alaska Native6.9% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino5.3% · 10
- Two or more races4.2% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.7% · 7
Popularity
Shawnia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shawnia from the 1960s through to the 2000s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 65 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Shawnia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shawnia 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 Shawnia 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 Shawnia
The name Shawnia is believed to have its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, with roots tracing back to the 16th century. It is thought to be a feminine variant of the male name Shawn, which is derived from the Gaelic word "sionna," meaning "well" or "spring."
In its earliest forms, the name was spelled as "Shawnia" or "Shawnee," and was primarily found in the Scottish Highlands and surrounding regions. It was a name often associated with Celtic mythology and folklore, with some historians suggesting it may have been inspired by the ancient Shawnee tribe of Native Americans.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shawnia can be found in the 17th century Scottish ballad "The Bonnie Earl of Murray," where it is mentioned as the name of a young woman. However, its usage remained relatively rare until the 19th century, when it began to gain popularity in parts of Scotland and Ireland.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shawnia. One such person was Shawnia Mackenzie (1820-1892), a Scottish poet and author known for her works celebrating the beauty of the Highlands. Another was Shawnia O'Brien (1865-1937), an Irish activist and suffragette who played a significant role in the fight for women's rights.
In the 20th century, the name Shawnia gained some recognition with the birth of Shawnia Frith (1910-1998), a British actress who appeared in several films and television shows during the 1940s and 1950s. Additionally, Shawnia Fanning (1927-2003), an American sculptor and artist, gained acclaim for her intricate bronze sculptures and public art installations.
One of the most recent historical figures to bear the name Shawnia was Shawnia MacGregor (1946-2018), a Scottish author and historian who wrote extensively about the history and culture of the Highlands. Her works, including "The Gaelic Legacy" and "Echoes of the Highlands," helped to preserve and celebrate the rich traditions of her homeland.
People
Shawnia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shawnia 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
Shawnia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shawnia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 158 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shawnia 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 2,169,331 US residents.
Is Shawnia a common name?
We classify Shawnia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shawnia most popular?
The single biggest year for Shawnia was 1996, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shawnia is about 38 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shawnia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 189 people with the name Shawnia, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,747 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 Shawnia 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 Shawnia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shawnia appears almost entirely female. Of the 185 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Shawnia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawnia is White at 43.4%. The next largest groups are Black (36.5%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (6.9%). 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 Shawnia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shawnia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.4% (82 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 Shawnia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shawnia a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shawnia 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 Shawnia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shawnia 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 Shawnia 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 Shawnia?
See how many people have the name Shawnia on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.