Shevelle
A feminine French name derived from "chevalier", meaning "knight" or "cavalryman".
Name Census estimates that about 147 living Americans carry the first name Shevelle. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shevelle today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shevelle births was 1964 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shevelle. 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
147
~ 1 in 2,331,662 Americans
Peak year
1964
13 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2019 SSA rank
#12,290
Tracked since 1964
Census
Shevelle in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 235 people with the first name Shevelle, which placed it at #34,648 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
#34,648
National first-name rank
People counted
235
235 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shevelle
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shevelle is Black at 51.5%. The next largest groups are White (34.5%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Shevelle 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 Shevelle at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.5% · 121
- White34.5% · 81
- Two or more races6.0% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 3
Popularity
Shevelle: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shevelle from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 40 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
Shevelle 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 Shevelle 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 Shevelle
The name Shevelle is of uncertain origin, with no clear consensus among scholars on its linguistic roots or cultural background. Some linguists suggest it may have evolved from an obscure Frankish or Germanic word, potentially related to the Old English term "sceawian," meaning "to look" or "to observe." However, this connection remains speculative and lacks concrete historical evidence.
One theory proposes that Shevelle might be a variation of the French name "Chevelle," which itself is derived from the Old French word "chevel," meaning "hair." This potential link could imply that the name Shevelle may have originally referred to someone with distinctive or notable hair. Nonetheless, this etymology is not widely accepted, and the name's true origins remain shrouded in uncertainty.
Despite the lack of clear historical records, a handful of individuals bearing the name Shevelle can be found scattered throughout various eras and regions. One of the earliest documented instances is Shevelle of Avignon, a 13th-century French noblewoman mentioned in a few local chronicles from the Provence region.
Another notable figure was Shevelle ibn Khalid, a 16th-century Moroccan scholar and poet whose works explored themes of love, spirituality, and the natural world. His collection of poems, "The Garden of Delights," is considered a masterpiece of Moroccan literature.
In the 17th century, Shevelle Eriksson was a Swedish explorer and trader who traveled extensively throughout the Baltic region and parts of Russia. His detailed accounts of his journeys provided valuable insights into the cultures and trade routes of the time.
During the 19th century, Shevelle Dupont was a renowned French artist known for her exquisite landscape paintings. Her works captured the beauty of the French countryside and were widely celebrated during her lifetime (1824-1897).
More recently, Shevelle Simons was a prominent South African activist and politician who played a crucial role in the anti-apartheid movement. Born in 1945, she dedicated her life to fighting for equal rights and social justice, becoming a respected voice for change in her country.
While the name Shevelle has appeared throughout history, its precise origins and meaning remain elusive, leaving much room for further research and exploration by scholars and linguists alike.
People
Shevelle + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shevelle 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
Shevelle: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shevelle?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 147 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shevelle 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 2,331,662 US residents.
Is Shevelle a common name?
We classify Shevelle as "Very Rare". It ranks above 70% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 159 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shevelle most popular?
The single biggest year for Shevelle was 1964, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shevelle is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shevelle in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 235 people with the name Shevelle, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,648 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 Shevelle 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 Shevelle?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shevelle leans strongly female. 221 people counted with this name were female (92.9%), compared with 17 male bearers (7.1%). 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 Shevelle?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shevelle is Black at 51.5%. The next largest groups are White (34.5%) and Two or More Races (6.0%). 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 Shevelle most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shevelle in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.5% (121 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 Shevelle in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shevelle a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shevelle 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 Shevelle still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shevelle 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 Shevelle 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 Shevelle as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.