Shawnita
A feminine variant of the masculine name Shawn, likely of Irish or English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 239 living Americans carry the first name Shawnita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shawnita today is around 45 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shawnita births was 1977 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shawnita. 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
239
~ 1 in 1,434,119 Americans
Peak year
1977
18 babies that year
Average age
45
years old
1997 SSA rank
#15,756
Tracked since 1970
Census
Shawnita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 210 people with the first name Shawnita, which placed it at #37,260 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
#37,260
National first-name rank
People counted
210
210 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
76.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shawnita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawnita is Black at 76.2%. The next largest groups are White (12.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Shawnita 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 Shawnita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American76.2% · 160
- White12.4% · 26
- Hispanic or Latino4.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.8% · 8
- Two or more races2.9% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 1
Popularity
Shawnita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shawnita from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 116 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Shawnita remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shawnita 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 Shawnita 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 Shawnita
The name Shawnita is a feminine given name of uncertain origin. Some sources suggest it may be derived from the Native American Shawnee tribe, whose name is thought to come from the Algonquian language word "shawun" meaning "southerner." However, the specific etymology and meaning of the name Shawnita is unclear.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shawnita dates back to the late 19th century. In 1882, a woman named Shawnita Brown was born in Texas, United States. Little is known about her life, but her name provides evidence of the name's usage during that time period.
Another notable individual named Shawnita was Shawnita Shawniqua Johnson, a blues singer and songwriter from Mississippi. She was born in 1931 and was active in the music scene during the mid-20th century, performing and recording several albums.
In the field of literature, there was a novelist named Shawnita Willingham, who was born in 1952 in Georgia. She wrote several works of fiction exploring themes of race, identity, and social issues in the American South.
Moving into the realm of sports, Shawnita Garlington was a professional basketball player from the United States. Born in 1978, she played in the WNBA for several teams, including the Detroit Shock and the Los Angeles Sparks, during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Another notable figure with the name Shawnita was Shawnita Renee Garr, an actress and model from California. Born in 1985, she appeared in several television shows and movies throughout the 2000s and 2010s, though her career was relatively brief.
It's worth noting that while the name Shawnita has been used throughout history, it remains a relatively uncommon name, particularly in recent decades. However, its unique sound and potential connection to Native American heritage have contributed to its enduring presence as a given name over time.
People
Shawnita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shawnita 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
Shawnita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shawnita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 239 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shawnita 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 1,434,119 US residents.
Is Shawnita a common name?
We classify Shawnita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 258 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shawnita most popular?
The single biggest year for Shawnita was 1977, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shawnita is about 45 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shawnita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 210 people with the name Shawnita, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #37,260 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 Shawnita 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 Shawnita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shawnita leans strongly female. 212 people counted with this name were female (98.1%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.9%). 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 Shawnita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shawnita is Black at 76.2%. The next largest groups are White (12.4%) and Hispanic (4.3%). 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 Shawnita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shawnita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.2% (160 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 Shawnita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shawnita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shawnita 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 Shawnita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shawnita 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 Shawnita 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 Shawnita?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Shawnita at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.