Shanan
Shanan was last recorded in 1998, when 11 babies were given it; 868 Americans have been recorded with it between 1955 and 1998 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shanan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shanan?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #8,472, in 1998; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
58 babies in 1970, the peak
Shanan peaked in 1970, when 58 babies were given it (53 girls, #1,734 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 11 | #8,472 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,640 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,446 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 8 | #10,340 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 8 | #10,356 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,946 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 6 | #13,052 | 8 | #6,586 |
| 1991 | 10 | #8,483 | 5 | #9,400 |
| 1990 | 9 | #9,101 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 13 | #6,450 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (39)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 11 | #7,029 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 13 | #5,869 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 19 | #4,311 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 15 | #5,038 | 7 | #5,668 |
| 1984 | 18 | #4,291 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 17 | #4,438 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 17 | #4,495 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 31 | #2,910 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 24 | #3,484 | 5 | #7,126 |
| 1979 | 32 | #2,785 | 7 | #5,272 |
| 1978 | 35 | #2,511 | 9 | #4,111 |
| 1977 | 42 | #2,210 | 5 | #6,708 |
| 1976 | 40 | #2,164 | 14 | #2,932 |
| 1975 | 32 | #2,499 | 14 | #2,879 |
| 1974 | 35 | #2,284 | 8 | #4,130 |
| 1973 | 31 | #2,443 | 5 | #5,755 |
| 1972 | 29 | #2,504 | 9 | #3,563 |
| 1971 | 36 | #2,237 | 8 | #3,908 |
| 1970 | 53 | #1,734 | 5 | #5,324 |
| 1969 | 47 | #1,803 | 8 | #3,543 |
| 1968 | 24 | #2,610 | 6 | #4,071 |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,360 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 11 | #4,160 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,769 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,622 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 6 | #6,433 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 6 | #6,270 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 5 | #7,048 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,563 | 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 Shanan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 868 Americans recorded as Shanan, 86% are girls and 14% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shanan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shanan, and how old are they?
An estimated 812 Americans named Shanan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 50 years old and half are between 44 and 55. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 893 people named Shanan (729 women and girls, 164 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 827 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% above that prediction.
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).
How common is the spelling Shanan?
Shanan is a less common spelling of Shannan: SSA has recorded 868 Shanan and 5,479 Shannan since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 364,307 babies since 1880, Shanan is the fifth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 116 babies recorded by SSA was a Shanan (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 Shanan
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 Shanan and names like it
- Compare Shanan and ShannanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShanan peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shanan since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Shanan.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shanan alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.