Shonika
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly derived from Sanskrit meaning "goddess of beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 104 living Americans carry the first name Shonika. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shonika today is around 44 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shonika births was 1978 (19 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shonika. 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
104
~ 1 in 3,295,715 Americans
Peak year
1978
19 babies that year
Average age
44
years old
1992 SSA rank
#11,561
Tracked since 1972
Census
Shonika in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 118 people with the first name Shonika, which placed it at #50,661 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
#50,661
National first-name rank
People counted
118
118 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
82.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shonika
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shonika is Black at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.5%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Shonika 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 Shonika at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American82.2% · 97
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.5% · 10
- Two or more races3.4% · 4
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 3
- White1.7% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
Popularity
Shonika: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shonika from the 1970s through to the 1990s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 58 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Shonika remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shonika 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 Shonika 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 Shonika
The name Shonika has its roots in Sanskrit, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that originated in South Asia. The name is believed to have originated around the 1st century CE, during the classical period of ancient India. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "shonika," which means "beautiful."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shonika can be found in ancient Hindu scriptures and texts, where it was used as a feminine name. In the epic Hindu text, the Mahabharata, a character named Shonika is mentioned as a princess and the daughter of King Drupada.
During the medieval period, the name Shonika was also found in historical records and inscriptions from various regions of the Indian subcontinent. One notable bearer of the name was Shonika Devi, a queen who ruled over the Chola Kingdom in present-day Tamil Nadu, India, in the 10th century CE.
In the 12th century CE, a prominent scholar and poet named Shonika Bhatta lived in the Deccan region of India. He was known for his contributions to Sanskrit literature and poetry.
Another famous Shonika in history was Shonika Gupta, a 16th-century Indian painter and artist who worked under the patronage of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. Her intricate miniature paintings are preserved in various museums and collections around the world.
During the 19th century, the name Shonika gained popularity among the Bengali community in India. One notable bearer of the name from this period was Shonika Devi, a Bengali writer and social reformer who advocated for women's education and rights.
As the name Shonika has its roots in Sanskrit, it has been used across different regions of India and among various linguistic and cultural communities over the centuries. While its usage may have varied across time and place, the name has maintained its association with beauty and elegance throughout its long history.
People
Shonika + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shonika 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
Shonika: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shonika?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 104 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shonika 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 3,295,715 US residents.
Is Shonika a common name?
We classify Shonika as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 112 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shonika most popular?
The single biggest year for Shonika was 1978, when 19 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shonika is about 44 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shonika in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 118 people with the name Shonika, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,661 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 Shonika 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 Shonika?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shonika appears almost entirely female. Of the 115 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Shonika?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shonika is Black at 82.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (8.5%) and Two or More Races (3.4%). 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 Shonika most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shonika in the 2020 Census, accounting for 82.2% (97 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 Shonika in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shonika a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shonika 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 Shonika still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shonika 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 Shonika 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 Shonika?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Shonika at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.