Shane
Shane was given to 439 boys in 2025, #636 among boys’ names; 196,166 Americans have been recorded with it since 1933 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 183,000 Americans named Shane and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 28 and 50.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shane by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shane mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shane is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the sense “God is gracious” (literally).
Also “a female given name from Irish.”
Anglicized form of the Northern Irish pronunciation of Irish Seán, from Old French Jehan, from Latin Johannes, variant of Ioannes, from Koine Greek Ἰωάννης (Iōánnēs), from Hebrew יוֹחָנָן (Yōḥānān, literally “God is gracious”). Doublet of John, Jack, Johan, Johann, Johannes, Jean, Ian, Evan, Ivan, Sean, Shaun, and Giovanni as a male name. Doublet of Ivana, Jana, Jane, Janice, Janis, Jean, Jeanne, Jen, Joan, Joanna, Joanne, Johanna, Juana, Shavonne, Sian, Siobhan, Shaun, Shauna, and Sheena as a female name.
/ʃeɪn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shane?
#636 among boys’ names, 2025
Shane fell from #295 in 2015 to #636 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.63 to 0.26 per 1,000.
5,931 babies in 1973, the peak
Shane peaked in 1973, when 5,931 babies were given it (5,710 boys, #54 among boys’ names). The 439 births of 2025 are 7% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 439 | #636 | 0.26 |
| 2024 | 475 | #602 | 0.28 |
| 2023 | 528 | #555 | 0.31 |
| 2022 | 582 | #511 | 0.33 |
| 2021 | 598 | #494 | 0.34 |
| 2020 | 569 | #507 | 0.33 |
| 2019 | 739 | #424 | 0.41 |
| 2018 | 875 | #372 | 0.48 |
| 2017 | 916 | #359 | 0.49 |
| 2016 | 1,068 | #325 | 0.56 |
Every recorded year (91)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,217 | #295 | 0.63 |
| 2014 | 1,298 | #277 | 0.68 |
| 2013 | 1,398 | #257 | 0.74 |
| 2012 | 1,480 | #244 | 0.78 |
| 2011 | 1,643 | #213 | 0.87 |
| 2010 | 1,876 | #198 | 1.0 |
| 2009 | 2,132 | #178 | 1.1 |
| 2008 | 2,307 | #174 | 1.1 |
| 2007 | 2,241 | #184 | 1.1 |
| 2006 | 2,277 | #179 | 1.1 |
| 2005 | 2,459 | #166 | 1.2 |
| 2004 | 2,476 | #165 | 1.2 |
| 2003 | 2,816 | #144 | 1.4 |
| 2002 | 3,030 | #130 | 1.6 |
| 2001 | 3,116 | #128 | 1.6 |
| 2000 | 3,275 | #116 | 1.7 |
| 1999 | 3,247 | #110 | 1.7 |
| 1998 | 3,166 | #118 | 1.7 |
| 1997 | 3,317 | #114 | 1.8 |
| 1996 | 3,488 | #112 | 1.8 |
| 1995 | 3,630 | #103 | 1.9 |
| 1994 | 4,085 | #92 | 2.1 |
| 1993 | 4,438 | #84 | 2.3 |
| 1992 | 4,847 | #77 | 2.4 |
| 1991 | 5,106 | #75 | 2.5 |
| 1990 | 5,274 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1989 | 4,860 | #71 | 2.4 |
| 1988 | 5,173 | #67 | 2.7 |
| 1987 | 5,305 | #65 | 2.8 |
| 1986 | 4,929 | #67 | 2.7 |
| 1985 | 4,549 | #68 | 2.5 |
| 1984 | 3,335 | #85 | 1.8 |
| 1983 | 3,404 | #84 | 1.9 |
| 1982 | 3,539 | #84 | 2.0 |
| 1981 | 3,710 | #81 | 2.1 |
| 1980 | 4,365 | #69 | 2.4 |
| 1979 | 4,482 | #67 | 2.6 |
| 1978 | 4,480 | #65 | 2.7 |
| 1977 | 4,868 | #61 | 3.0 |
| 1976 | 5,095 | #57 | 3.2 |
| 1975 | 5,209 | #57 | 3.3 |
| 1974 | 5,655 | #56 | 3.6 |
| 1973 | 5,710 | #54 | 3.7 |
| 1972 | 5,236 | #55 | 3.2 |
| 1971 | 5,093 | #60 | 2.9 |
| 1970 | 4,451 | #64 | 2.4 |
| 1969 | 3,531 | #87 | 2.0 |
| 1968 | 2,513 | #120 | 1.4 |
| 1967 | 1,967 | #145 | 1.1 |
| 1966 | 1,315 | #186 | 0.74 |
| 1965 | 1,025 | #228 | 0.55 |
| 1964 | 903 | #256 | 0.45 |
| 1963 | 851 | #263 | 0.42 |
| 1962 | 704 | #289 | 0.34 |
| 1961 | 582 | #325 | 0.27 |
| 1960 | 532 | #337 | 0.25 |
| 1959 | 496 | #351 | 0.23 |
| 1958 | 411 | #386 | 0.19 |
| 1957 | 390 | #386 | 0.18 |
| 1956 | 346 | #408 | 0.16 |
| 1955 | 305 | #419 | 0.15 |
| 1954 | 354 | #376 | 0.17 |
| 1953 | 184 | #523 | 0.09 |
| 1952 | 37 | #1,223 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 38 | #1,189 | 0.02 |
| 1950 | 28 | #1,387 | 0.02 |
| 1949 | 27 | #1,429 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 22 | #1,601 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 20 | #1,725 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 13 | #2,129 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 9 | #2,555 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 16 | #1,801 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 16 | #1,894 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 11 | #2,367 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 17 | #1,746 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,832 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 5 | #3,910 | under 0.01 |
| 1937 | 8 | #2,879 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 8 | #2,913 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 9 | #2,720 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 6 | #3,585 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Shane a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 196,166 Americans recorded as Shane, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 439 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 Shane: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shane, and how old are they?
183,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 196,166 Americans ever recorded as Shane. The median Shane alive today is 39 years old; half are between 28 and 50.
The 2020 Census counted 167,539 people named Shane (2,859 women and girls, 164,680 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 183,498 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 38 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,830 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 59,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 67,300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 40,600 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 10,800 |
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 Shane born?
The states with the most babies named Shane are California, Pennsylvania and New York, with 22% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 19,658 | #637 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 12,388 | #439 | 1.4× |
| New York | 11,015 | #325 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 10,173 | #853 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 10,053 | #574 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 8,103 | #841 | 1.0× |
| Michigan | 7,823 | #537 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 7,345 | #467 | 0.8× |
| Indiana | 5,362 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 4,958 | #342 | 0.9× |
Where Shane is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shane is most over-represented in Montana: since 1933 it was given 2.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
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 Shane 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 211,881 babies since 1880, Shane is the most given (93% of them). In 2025 it was given to 439 of their 484 babies (91%), again the most given.
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 Shane
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
| Name | Recorded | 1930-2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Aric | 7,631 | |
| Erik | 158,126 | |
| Sean | 426,606 | |
| Christopher | 2,079,103 |
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 Shane and names like it
- Compare Shane and ShayneBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShane peaked in 1973.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shane since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Shane: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1973The year the most babies were named Shane.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shane alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.