Shernita
An African feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 124 living Americans carry the first name Shernita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shernita today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shernita births was 1973 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shernita. 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
124
~ 1 in 2,764,148 Americans
Peak year
1973
12 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1988 SSA rank
#13,571
Tracked since 1961
Popularity
Shernita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shernita from the 1960s through to the 1980s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 61 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shernita 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 Shernita 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 Shernita
The name Shernita is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the United States in the 20th century. It does not appear to have a clear linguistic or cultural origin, nor is it derived from any ancient words or languages.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Shernita can be found in the 1940 United States Federal Census, where a few individuals with this first name were listed. However, the name remained quite rare throughout most of the 20th century.
Due to its relatively recent coinage, there are no known historical references to the name Shernita in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records from earlier eras. Additionally, there do not appear to be any famous individuals from history who bore this name.
As a modern name, Shernita began to gain some popularity in the latter half of the 20th century, particularly in certain regions of the United States. However, it has never been a particularly common name on a national scale.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the first name Shernita was Shernita Jessie, an American baseball player who played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League in the 1940s and 1950s. Another early bearer of the name was Shernita Anderson, an American singer and musician who was active in the 1970s and 1980s.
In more recent times, a few other individuals with the name Shernita have gained some recognition in various fields, such as Shernita Wiggins, an American actress and model, and Shernita Frazier, an American basketball player who played in the WNBA in the early 2000s.
While the name Shernita has never been widely popular, it has been used by a small number of individuals throughout the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century, primarily in the United States.
People
Shernita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shernita 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
Shernita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shernita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 124 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shernita 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 2,764,148 US residents.
Is Shernita a common name?
We classify Shernita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 67.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shernita most popular?
The single biggest year for Shernita was 1973, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shernita is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shernita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shernita 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.