Shan
Shan was last recorded in 2024, when 8 babies were given it; 3,088 Americans have been recorded with it between 1944 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,800 Americans named Shan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (91% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 31 and 57.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shan?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #9,726, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
105 babies in 1970, the peak
Shan peaked in 1970, when 105 babies were given it (60 boys, #1,060 among boys’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | under 5 | 8 | #9,726 | |
| 2023 | under 5 | 8 | #9,603 | |
| 2022 | under 5 | 15 | #6,096 | |
| 2021 | under 5 | 6 | #11,909 | |
| 2020 | under 5 | 7 | #10,424 | |
| 2019 | under 5 | 9 | #8,753 | |
| 2018 | under 5 | 12 | #7,053 | |
| 2017 | under 5 | 15 | #6,021 | |
| 2016 | 5 | #18,451 | 27 | #3,970 |
| 2015 | under 5 | 9 | #8,616 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | under 5 | 14 | #6,255 | |
| 2013 | under 5 | 26 | #3,943 | |
| 2012 | under 5 | 24 | #4,223 | |
| 2011 | under 5 | 22 | #4,478 | |
| 2010 | under 5 | 24 | #4,214 | |
| 2009 | under 5 | 27 | #3,897 | |
| 2008 | under 5 | 29 | #3,721 | |
| 2007 | under 5 | 20 | #4,769 | |
| 2006 | under 5 | 35 | #3,144 | |
| 2005 | 5 | #18,701 | 31 | #3,302 |
| 2004 | under 5 | 34 | #2,999 | |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,595 | 40 | #2,568 |
| 2002 | under 5 | 30 | #3,076 | |
| 2001 | 5 | #17,506 | 29 | #3,127 |
| 2000 | under 5 | 38 | #2,513 | |
| 1999 | 7 | #12,444 | 31 | #2,778 |
| 1998 | under 5 | 31 | #2,696 | |
| 1997 | 6 | #13,428 | 37 | #2,299 |
| 1996 | under 5 | 28 | #2,732 | |
| 1995 | under 5 | 32 | #2,429 | |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,555 | 38 | #2,167 |
| 1993 | under 5 | 39 | #2,078 | |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,293 | 39 | #2,031 |
| 1991 | 6 | #12,820 | 48 | #1,712 |
| 1990 | 5 | #14,820 | 39 | #1,958 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,616 | 53 | #1,540 |
| 1988 | 6 | #11,504 | 30 | #2,125 |
| 1987 | 8 | #8,598 | 44 | #1,606 |
| 1986 | 11 | #6,505 | 32 | #1,912 |
| 1985 | 5 | #12,125 | 30 | #1,961 |
| 1984 | 8 | #8,002 | 20 | #2,514 |
| 1983 | 7 | #8,800 | 23 | #2,263 |
| 1982 | 13 | #5,468 | 30 | #1,881 |
| 1981 | 9 | #7,281 | 32 | #1,803 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,841 | 43 | #1,469 |
| 1979 | 13 | #5,352 | 48 | #1,350 |
| 1978 | 14 | #4,881 | 50 | #1,284 |
| 1977 | 15 | #4,605 | 48 | #1,311 |
| 1976 | 17 | #3,927 | 46 | #1,315 |
| 1975 | 24 | #3,036 | 51 | #1,190 |
| 1974 | 24 | #2,987 | 48 | #1,213 |
| 1973 | 27 | #2,671 | 62 | #1,033 |
| 1972 | 36 | #2,166 | 63 | #1,021 |
| 1971 | 24 | #2,932 | 64 | #1,023 |
| 1970 | 45 | #1,929 | 60 | #1,060 |
| 1969 | 25 | #2,692 | 73 | #898 |
| 1968 | 30 | #2,238 | 59 | #955 |
| 1967 | 31 | #2,158 | 42 | #1,161 |
| 1966 | 29 | #2,240 | 41 | #1,177 |
| 1965 | 31 | #2,147 | 40 | #1,221 |
| 1964 | 28 | #2,338 | 26 | #1,572 |
| 1963 | 21 | #2,762 | 16 | #2,102 |
| 1962 | 16 | #3,271 | 16 | #2,102 |
| 1961 | 27 | #2,346 | 18 | #1,990 |
| 1960 | 16 | #3,188 | 15 | #2,192 |
| 1959 | 18 | #2,847 | 14 | #2,282 |
| 1958 | 31 | #2,015 | 15 | #2,159 |
| 1957 | 23 | #2,406 | 13 | #2,360 |
| 1956 | 24 | #2,309 | 15 | #2,156 |
| 1955 | 23 | #2,327 | 14 | #2,208 |
| 1954 | 8 | #4,590 | 9 | #2,916 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,444 | 8 | #3,109 |
| 1952 | 10 | #3,751 | 7 | #3,330 |
| 1951 | 12 | #3,259 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 10 | #3,631 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 13 | #2,973 | under 5 | |
| 1948 | 12 | #3,109 | under 5 | |
| 1947 | 9 | #3,969 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 11 | #3,186 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 6 | #4,491 | 5 | #3,837 |
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 Shan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,088 Americans recorded as Shan, 28% are girls and 72% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shan, and how old are they?
2,800 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 91% of the 3,088 Americans ever recorded as Shan. The median Shan alive today is 47 years old; half are between 31 and 57.
The 2020 Census counted 6,106 people named Shan (2,970 women and girls, 3,136 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,837 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.2 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Shan rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 5 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 394 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,110 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 628 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 503 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 160 |
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).
Where are babies named Shan born?
The states with the most babies named Shan are California, Texas and New York, with 78% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 237 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 93 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New York | 55 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Illinois | 26 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Georgia | 23 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New Jersey | 16 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Florida | 13 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Washington | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| North Carolina | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Shan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 84,083 babies since 1880, Shan is the second most given (3.7% of them). In 2025 none of their 231 babies recorded by SSA was a Shan (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Shan
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 Shan and names like it
- Compare Shan and ShaunBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShan peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shan since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Shan.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shan alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.