Shenetta
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a variant of Jeanette.
Name Census estimates that about 208 living Americans carry the first name Shenetta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shenetta today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shenetta births was 1979 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shenetta. 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
208
~ 1 in 1,647,857 Americans
Peak year
1979
16 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
1992 SSA rank
#15,226
Tracked since 1960
Popularity
Shenetta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shenetta from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 100 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shenetta 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 Shenetta 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 Shenetta
The name Shenetta is thought to have originated in the English language, likely emerging in the 19th century as a feminine form of the name Shen. The name Shen is derived from the Old English word "scene," meaning "beautiful" or "bright."
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Shenetta can be found in the 1871 novel "A Daughter of Heth" by William Black, where it is mentioned as the name of a character. However, the name remained relatively uncommon until the 20th century.
Historically, the name Shenetta does not appear to have any significant religious or cultural associations. It is primarily an English given name without direct ties to ancient texts or scriptures.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Shenetta was Shenetta Jones, an African American singer and actress born in 1919 in Mississippi. She performed in various musical revues and stage shows in the 1940s and 1950s.
Another early bearer of the name was Shenetta Curry, an American singer and actress born in 1929. She appeared in several Broadway musicals and television shows throughout the 1950s and 1960s.
In the late 20th century, Shenetta Benjamin, an American track and field athlete, gained recognition. Born in 1964, she won a gold medal in the 4x400m relay at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea.
Shenetta Selden, an American basketball player born in 1971, also achieved success in her sport. She played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) for several teams, including the Los Angeles Sparks and the New York Liberty.
More recently, Shenetta Jones, an American professional wrestler better known by her ring name Sheneta, has been active in the independent wrestling circuit since the early 2000s.
People
Shenetta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shenetta 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
Shenetta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shenetta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 208 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shenetta 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 1,647,857 US residents.
Is Shenetta a common name?
We classify Shenetta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 230 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shenetta most popular?
The single biggest year for Shenetta was 1979, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shenetta is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shenetta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shenetta 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.