Find out how popular the last name Shannon is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Shannon.

Shannon, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Shannon surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shannon in America

Shannon is the 752nd most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shannon surname appeared 46,147 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 16 people would have the surname Shannon.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shannon to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Shannon

The surname Shannon is an anglicized version of the Irish Gaelic name Ó Seanáin, which means "descendant of Seanán." It originated in County Clare, on the west coast of Ireland, during the Middle Ages.

The name Seanán is derived from the Old Irish word "sean," meaning "old" or "ancient," and was likely a nickname given to someone who was considered wise or venerable. The Ó prefix signifies that the person was a descendant of someone named Seanán.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Annals of Inisfallen, a chronicle of medieval Irish history, which mentions a Seanán mac Geirb in the year 920 AD. The Ó Seanáin clan was based in the Burren region of County Clare, and their territory included the modern-day towns of Kilfenora and Ennistymon.

The anglicized spelling "Shannon" first appeared in the 16th century, as the English administration in Ireland sought to standardize Irish names for record-keeping purposes. Notable historical figures with the surname Shannon include:

1. Donal O'Shannon (c. 1550-1625), an Irish chieftain and leader of the O'Shannon clan during the Elizabethan era.
2. James Shannon (1799-1859), an Irish-American painter and portrait artist who worked in New York City.
3. Wilson Shannon (1802-1877), an American lawyer and politician who served as the governor of Ohio and Kansas.
4. Edgar Shannon (1918-1997), an American actor best known for his role as Eddie Haskell in the television series "Leave It to Beaver."
5. Mary Shannon (b. 1938), an English actress and singer who appeared in several films and television shows in the 1960s and 1970s.

The name Shannon is also associated with several place names in Ireland, including the River Shannon, the longest river in the country, and Shannon Airport, one of the country's major international airports.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shannon

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Shannon.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Shannon was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Shannon has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Shannon was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Shannon, please contact us.

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