Shneur
An Aramaic name meaning "two lights" or "light that shines".
Name Census estimates that about 607 living Americans carry the first name Shneur. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Shneur today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shneur births was 2020 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shneur. 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
607
~ 1 in 564,669 Americans
Peak year
2020
32 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,841
Tracked since 1977
Popularity
Shneur: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shneur from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 204 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shneur remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shneur 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 Shneur during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shneurs live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shneur
The name Shneur is of Hebrew origin and has its roots in the Jewish culture and tradition. It is derived from the Hebrew word "Shnayim," which means "two" or "second," and "Or," meaning "light." The combined meaning suggests "second light" or "another light."
This name gained prominence in the 18th century, particularly within the Hasidic Jewish movement. One of the most notable figures associated with this name is Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1812), the founder of the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement. He was also known as the Alter Rebbe (the "Old Rabbi") and the Baal HaTanya, after his seminal work, the Tanya.
The name Shneur is also mentioned in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism. Specifically, it appears in the Tractate Bava Batra, where it refers to a person named Shneur ben Sheket, a scribe who lived during the Second Temple period.
Another historical figure bearing this name was Rabbi Shneur Zalman Aharon (1866-1920), the fifth Rebbe of the Chabad-Lubavitch dynasty. He is also known as the Rashab, an acronym for Rabbi Shneur Zalman.
In the 19th century, there was a prominent Jewish author and thinker named Shneur Zalman Bornstein (1823-1897), who wrote extensively on Jewish law and philosophy.
Additionally, Shneur Kotler (1918-1982) was a renowned Rosh Yeshiva (head of a Jewish educational institution) and a leader of the Lithuanian branch of Orthodox Judaism in the United States.
While the name Shneur has its roots in the Jewish tradition, it has also been adopted by individuals from other cultures and religions over time, though its usage remains relatively rare outside of the Jewish community.
People
Shneur + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shneur 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
Shneur: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shneur?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 607 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shneur 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 564,669 US residents.
Is Shneur a common name?
We classify Shneur as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 616 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shneur most popular?
The single biggest year for Shneur was 2020, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shneur is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shneur a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shneur in the SSA data are male. 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.