Shonie
An English feminine diminutive of Sharon, meaning "a plain".
Name Census estimates that about 26 living Americans carry the first name Shonie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shonie today is around 49 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shonie births was 1992 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shonie. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Shonie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shonie. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
26
~ 1 in 13,182,859 Americans
Peak year
1992
7 babies that year
Average age
49
years old
1992 SSA rank
#11,559
Tracked since 1958
Census
Shonie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 148 people with the first name Shonie, which placed it at #45,698 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
#45,698
National first-name rank
People counted
148
148 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shonie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shonie is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (10.1%). 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 Shonie 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 Shonie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.1% · 80
- Black or African American20.3% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native10.1% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino6.1% · 9
- Two or more races5.4% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 6
Popularity
Shonie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shonie from the 1950s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Shonie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shonie 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 Shonie 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 Shonie
The name Shonie is believed to have its origins in the Scottish Gaelic language, with roots dating back to the early medieval period in the British Isles. It is thought to be a diminutive form of the name Shon, which itself is derived from the Hebrew name Yochanan, meaning "Graced by God" or "God is gracious."
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Shonie can be found in the 12th-century Scottish manuscript known as the Book of Deer. This medieval text, written in Latin and Gaelic, contains the name "Shonie of Laga," believed to be a reference to a local landowner or chieftain from the region of Buchan in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Throughout the centuries, the name Shonie has been associated with several notable figures in Scottish history. One such individual was Shonie Fergusson (c. 1565–1611), a Scottish poet and satirist who was part of the literary movement known as the "Castalian Band." His works, which often criticized the clergy and social injustices of his time, were influential in the development of Scottish vernacular literature.
Another historical figure bearing the name Shonie was Shonie MacKenzie (c. 1609–1678), a Scottish soldier and military leader who played a prominent role in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. MacKenzie was a staunch Royalist and fought alongside King Charles I during the English Civil War.
In the 18th century, Shonie Macdonald (c. 1730–1809) was a Scottish Gaelic poet and bard from the Isle of Skye. His works, which were passed down through oral tradition, celebrated the beauty of the Highland landscape and the struggles of the Highland people during a time of social and cultural upheaval.
Crossing the Atlantic, one notable bearer of the name was Shonie Jacobs (c. 1815–1889), a Native American leader of the Miami tribe. Jacobs was instrumental in negotiating treaties and land allotments for his people in the mid-19th century, and his efforts helped preserve the Miami language and cultural traditions.
While the name Shonie has its roots in Scotland and the Scottish Gaelic language, it has transcended cultural boundaries and been adopted by various communities around the world. Its enduring legacy reflects the rich tapestry of human history and the enduring power of names to connect us to our past.
People
Shonie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shonie 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
Shonie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shonie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 26 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shonie 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 13,182,859 US residents.
Is Shonie a common name?
We classify Shonie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 44.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 29 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shonie most popular?
The single biggest year for Shonie was 1992, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shonie is about 49 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shonie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 148 people with the name Shonie, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #45,698 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 Shonie 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 Shonie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shonie leans strongly female. 121 people counted with this name were female (84.0%), compared with 23 male bearers (16.0%). 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 Shonie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shonie is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (20.3%) and American Indian/Alaska Native (10.1%). 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 Shonie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shonie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.1% (80 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 Shonie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shonie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shonie 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 Shonie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shonie 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 Shonie 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 Americans are named Shonie?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.