Shadow
Shadow was given to 15 boys in 2025, #6,088 among boys’ names; 1,104 Americans have been recorded with it since 1974 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,080 Americans named Shadow and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 13 and 33.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shadow by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shadow?
#6,088 among boys’ names, 2025
Shadow rose from #7,433 in 2015 to #6,088 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 5.7 to 8.8 per million.
58 babies in 1993, the peak
Shadow peaked in 1993, when 58 babies were given it (36 boys, #2,197 among boys’ names). The 15 births of 2025 are 26% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | under 5 | 15 | #6,088 | |
| 2024 | 6 | #15,002 | 14 | #6,415 |
| 2023 | 8 | #12,028 | 12 | #7,225 |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,453 | 18 | #5,394 |
| 2021 | 8 | #12,033 | 17 | #5,514 |
| 2020 | 10 | #10,151 | 14 | #6,232 |
| 2019 | 7 | #13,592 | 15 | #6,051 |
| 2018 | 8 | #12,313 | 10 | #8,055 |
| 2017 | 12 | #9,259 | 19 | #5,074 |
| 2016 | 8 | #12,711 | 7 | #10,552 |
Every recorded year (45)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 10 | #10,748 | 11 | #7,433 |
| 2014 | 6 | #16,205 | 14 | #6,254 |
| 2013 | under 5 | 14 | #6,186 | |
| 2012 | under 5 | 5 | #13,877 | |
| 2011 | 8 | #13,165 | 18 | #5,159 |
| 2010 | 7 | #14,712 | 7 | #10,565 |
| 2009 | 8 | #13,485 | 8 | #9,711 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,673 | 10 | #8,199 |
| 2007 | 6 | #17,256 | 10 | #8,066 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,877 | 17 | #5,264 |
| 2005 | 12 | #9,354 | 8 | #8,955 |
| 2004 | 14 | #8,160 | 6 | #11,120 |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,302 | 8 | #8,489 |
| 2002 | 6 | #15,072 | 9 | #7,526 |
| 2001 | 9 | #10,858 | 7 | #9,064 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,953 | 17 | #4,527 |
| 1999 | 11 | #8,692 | 16 | #4,497 |
| 1998 | 19 | #5,544 | 19 | #3,818 |
| 1997 | 22 | #4,787 | 25 | #3,048 |
| 1996 | 19 | #5,245 | 21 | #3,375 |
| 1995 | 22 | #4,648 | 27 | #2,746 |
| 1994 | 24 | #4,349 | 30 | #2,545 |
| 1993 | 22 | #4,640 | 36 | #2,197 |
| 1992 | 22 | #4,651 | 26 | #2,727 |
| 1991 | 20 | #4,962 | 28 | #2,527 |
| 1990 | 19 | #5,014 | 30 | #2,358 |
| 1989 | 22 | #4,334 | 26 | #2,527 |
| 1988 | 17 | #5,015 | 13 | #3,869 |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,232 | 6 | #6,804 |
| 1986 | 5 | #12,417 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 7 | #8,887 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 6 | #9,940 | under 5 | |
| 1978 | 6 | #9,480 | under 5 | |
| 1975 | 6 | #8,808 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 5 | #9,902 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Shadow a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,104 Americans recorded as Shadow, 44% are girls and 56% boys. In 2025 it went to 15 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shadow: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shadow, and how old are they?
1,080 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,104 Americans ever recorded as Shadow. The median Shadow alive today is 28 years old; half are between 13 and 33.
The 2020 Census counted 1,031 people named Shadow (477 women and girls, 554 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 959 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 28 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 431 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 348 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 274 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Shadow
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Shadow and names like it
- Compare Shadow and AustenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sShadow peaked in 1993.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shadow since 1910.
- The top names of 1993The year the most babies were named Shadow.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shadow alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.