Shanel
Shanel was given to 10 girls in 2025, #9,998 among girls’ names; 2,526 Americans have been recorded with it since 1962 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,460 Americans named Shanel and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 24 and 43.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shanel by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shanel?
#9,998 among girls’ names, 2025
Shanel fell from #7,557 in 2015 to #9,998 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 9.0 to 6.2 per million.
100 babies in 1991, the peak
Shanel peaked in 1991, when 100 girls were given it, #1,545 among girls’ names. The 10 births of 2025 are 10% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 | #9,998 | 6.2 |
| 2024 | 12 | #8,866 | 7.4 |
| 2023 | 9 | #11,041 | 5.6 |
| 2022 | 10 | #10,286 | 6.1 |
| 2021 | 17 | #6,920 | 10.4 |
| 2020 | 15 | #7,512 | 9.3 |
| 2019 | 19 | #6,375 | 11.3 |
| 2018 | 29 | #4,754 | 17.0 |
| 2017 | 18 | #6,765 | 10.4 |
| 2016 | 29 | #4,828 | 16.4 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 16 | #7,557 | 9.0 |
| 2014 | 32 | #4,537 | 17.9 |
| 2013 | 30 | #4,736 | 17.1 |
| 2012 | 37 | #4,108 | 21.0 |
| 2011 | 24 | #5,696 | 13.6 |
| 2010 | 29 | #4,948 | 16.3 |
| 2009 | 38 | #4,091 | 20.7 |
| 2008 | 31 | #4,858 | 16.4 |
| 2007 | 38 | #4,117 | 19.8 |
| 2006 | 38 | #3,981 | 20.0 |
| 2005 | 38 | #3,858 | 20.6 |
| 2004 | 32 | #4,369 | 17.4 |
| 2003 | 33 | #4,094 | 18.1 |
| 2002 | 44 | #3,232 | 24.5 |
| 2001 | 21 | #5,533 | 11.7 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,948 | 13.2 |
| 1999 | 46 | #2,922 | 25.9 |
| 1998 | 54 | #2,560 | 30.6 |
| 1997 | 43 | #2,863 | 24.7 |
| 1996 | 66 | #2,102 | 37.6 |
| 1995 | 56 | #2,359 | 31.8 |
| 1994 | 62 | #2,178 | 34.7 |
| 1993 | 66 | #2,082 | 36.5 |
| 1992 | 97 | #1,592 | 52.6 |
| 1991 | 100 | #1,545 | 53.3 |
| 1990 | 96 | #1,580 | 50.6 |
| 1989 | 73 | #1,829 | 39.6 |
| 1988 | 78 | #1,668 | 43.8 |
| 1987 | 75 | #1,642 | 43.1 |
| 1986 | 88 | #1,457 | 51.3 |
| 1985 | 68 | #1,707 | 39.5 |
| 1984 | 81 | #1,443 | 48.1 |
| 1983 | 90 | #1,341 | 53.9 |
| 1982 | 74 | #1,597 | 43.7 |
| 1981 | 80 | #1,514 | 48.0 |
| 1980 | 62 | #1,783 | 37.3 |
| 1979 | 57 | #1,873 | 35.5 |
| 1978 | 53 | #1,887 | 34.6 |
| 1977 | 41 | #2,244 | 26.7 |
| 1976 | 45 | #1,991 | 30.7 |
| 1975 | 36 | #2,315 | 24.7 |
| 1974 | 25 | #2,897 | 17.0 |
| 1973 | 26 | #2,733 | 17.8 |
| 1972 | 21 | #3,155 | 13.8 |
| 1971 | 21 | #3,244 | 12.6 |
| 1970 | 17 | #3,688 | 9.7 |
| 1969 | 19 | #3,179 | 11.3 |
| 1968 | 16 | #3,429 | 9.8 |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,794 | 5.3 |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,389 | 3.4 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,445 | 3.1 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shanel a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shanel has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 61 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shanel: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shanel, and how old are they?
2,460 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 2,526 Americans ever recorded as Shanel. The median Shanel alive today is 35 years old; half are between 24 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 2,308 people named Shanel (2,274 women and girls, 34 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,405 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 5 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 427 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,220 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 564 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 244 |
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 Shanel born?
The states with the most babies named Shanel are New York, California and Florida, with 75% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 303 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| California | 271 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 57 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 33 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 33 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Texas | 33 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Michigan | 29 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New Jersey | 27 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Maryland | 26 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 10 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Shanel is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shanel is most over-represented in New York: since 1962 it was given 1.7 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 girls’ 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 Shanel 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 9,237 babies since 1880, Shanel is the second most given (27% of them).
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 Shanel
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 Shanel and names like it
- Compare Shanel and ShanellBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sShanel peaked in 1991.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shanel since 1910.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Shanel.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shanel alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.