Sherita
A feminine name of unknown origin, possibly meaning "little princess".
Name Census estimates that about 3,659 living Americans carry the first name Sherita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherita today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherita births was 1981 (237 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherita. 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
3.7K
~ 1 in 93,674 Americans
Peak year
1981
237 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2022 SSA rank
#17,395
Tracked since 1949
Census
Sherita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,239 people with the first name Sherita, which placed it at #5,336 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
#5,336
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,239 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
89.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherita is Black at 89.9%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Sherita 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 Sherita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American89.9% · 2,912
- White4.8% · 157
- Two or more races3.1% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino1.0% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 16
Popularity
Sherita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherita from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 1,656 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
Sherita 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 Sherita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sheritas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 24 states and territories. Virginia, Illinois, Tennessee recorded the most babies named Sherita, while Oklahoma, Kentucky, Wisconsin recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 111 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherita
The name Sherita has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, dating back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Arabic word "sharat," which means "splendor" or "glory." The name was likely used by Arabic-speaking communities in the Middle East and North Africa during this time period.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sherita can be found in medieval Islamic texts and historical records from the 9th to 12th centuries. These documents often mentioned individuals with this name, indicating its use among Arabic-speaking populations during this era.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Sherita. One of the earliest was Sherita al-Andalusi, a renowned Arabic scholar and poet who lived in the 10th century in the Iberian Peninsula (modern-day Spain and Portugal). She was known for her contributions to the development of Arabic literature and poetry during the Golden Age of Islamic culture.
Another historical figure with the name Sherita was Sherita al-Qurashi, a distinguished Islamic scholar and jurist who lived in the 11th century in present-day Iraq. She was revered for her expertise in Islamic law and her dedication to preserving and transmitting religious knowledge.
In the 12th century, there was Sherita bint al-Hasan, a prominent Arab mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics and the development of astronomical instruments. Her work helped advance the field of astronomy during the Islamic Golden Age.
Moving forward in history, Sherita al-Masri was a renowned Egyptian writer and activist who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was a pioneering figure in the Arabic literary renaissance and played a crucial role in advocating for women's rights and education in the region.
Finally, Sherita al-Khalili was a celebrated Syrian artist and sculptor who gained recognition in the 20th century for her intricate and expressive works of art. She is considered one of the most influential sculptors in the modern Arab world, and her pieces are displayed in museums and galleries across the Middle East.
People
Sherita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherita 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
Sherita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,659 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherita 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 93,674 US residents.
Is Sherita a common name?
We classify Sherita as "Rare". It ranks above 95.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,022 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherita most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherita was 1981, when 237 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherita is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sherita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,239 people with the name Sherita, or 1.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,336 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 Sherita 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 Sherita?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherita appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,246 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Sherita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherita is Black at 89.9%. The next largest groups are White (4.8%) and Two or More Races (3.1%). 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 Sherita most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sherita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.9% (2,912 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 Sherita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherita 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 Sherita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherita 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 Sherita 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 Sherita?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.