Shemeka
Feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly from the Hebrew shemekah meaning "remaining" or "leftover".
Name Census estimates that about 1,456 living Americans carry the first name Shemeka. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shemeka today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shemeka births was 1982 (135 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shemeka. 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
1.5K
~ 1 in 235,408 Americans
Peak year
1982
135 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
2003 SSA rank
#15,473
Tracked since 1971
Census
Shemeka in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,205 people with the first name Shemeka, which placed it at #10,866 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
#10,866
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,205 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
96.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shemeka
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shemeka is Black at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.2%) and White (1.1%). 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 Shemeka 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 Shemeka at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American96.8% · 1,166
- Two or more races1.2% · 15
- White1.1% · 13
- Hispanic or Latino0.6% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.2% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Shemeka: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shemeka from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 839 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
Shemeka 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 Shemeka during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shemekas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 13 states and territories. Georgia, Louisiana, Texas recorded the most babies named Shemeka, while Tennessee, California, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 71 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shemeka
The name Shemeka has its origins in the African American community, and it is believed to have emerged as a variant of the name Shemika, which itself is a combination of the Hebrew name Shemuel and the Greek name Michaelis. The earliest recorded use of the name Shemeka dates back to the mid-20th century.
While the precise etymology of the name Shemeka is not entirely clear, it is thought to have been derived from the Hebrew name Shemuel, which means "name of God" or "God has heard." The name Shemuel was popular in ancient Israel and is found in the Hebrew Bible, where it was borne by the prophet Samuel.
The addition of the "-ka" suffix to the name Shemeka is believed to have been influenced by African naming traditions, where suffixes are often added to names to create new, unique variants. This practice was common among African American communities, as it allowed for the creation of distinctively African American names that reflected their cultural identity.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shemeka can be found in the 1970s, when it started gaining popularity among African American families. Some notable individuals named Shemeka throughout history include Shemeka Campbell, an American singer and songwriter born in 1977, and Shemeka Benton, an American basketball player born in 1981.
Other notable individuals with the name Shemeka include Shemeka Millner, an American track and field athlete who competed in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics, and Shemeka Elleby, an American basketball player who played professionally in the WNBA and overseas.
While the name Shemeka is not as widely known as some other African American names, it holds a special significance within the community as a reflection of their cultural heritage and the blending of various linguistic influences.
People
Shemeka + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shemeka 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
Shemeka: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shemeka?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,456 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shemeka 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 235,408 US residents.
Is Shemeka a common name?
We classify Shemeka as "Rare". It ranks above 92.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,563 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shemeka most popular?
The single biggest year for Shemeka was 1982, when 135 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shemeka is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shemeka in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,205 people with the name Shemeka, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,866 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 Shemeka 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 Shemeka?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shemeka appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,209 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 Shemeka?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shemeka is Black at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (1.2%) and White (1.1%). 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 Shemeka most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shemeka in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.8% (1,166 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 Shemeka in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shemeka a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shemeka 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 Shemeka still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shemeka 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 Shemeka 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 are named Shemeka?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.