Shanequa
Shanequa was last recorded in 2002, when 8 babies were given it; 1,874 Americans have been recorded with it between 1971 and 2002 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,820 Americans named Shanequa and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 34 and 41.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shanequa by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shanequa mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shanequa is “a female given name originating as a coinage, of African-American usage, variant of Shaniqua.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shanequa?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #12,003, in 2002; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
284 babies in 1991, the peak
Shanequa peaked in 1991, when 284 girls were given it, #733 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 8 | #12,003 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 6 | #15,022 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 5 | #17,159 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 28 | #4,180 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 26 | #4,346 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 30 | #3,795 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 30 | #3,708 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 62 | #2,175 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 92 | #1,640 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 148 | #1,177 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (32)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | 232 | #854 | 0.13 |
| 1991 | 284 | #733 | 0.15 |
| 1990 | 175 | #1,030 | 0.09 |
| 1989 | 62 | #2,041 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 63 | #1,945 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 57 | #1,985 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 45 | #2,291 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 53 | #2,038 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 62 | #1,765 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 37 | #2,509 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 41 | #2,407 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 54 | #1,980 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 40 | #2,428 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 46 | #2,179 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 47 | #2,043 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 34 | #2,549 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 31 | #2,592 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 24 | #3,037 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 19 | #3,530 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 17 | #3,761 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 11 | #5,033 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 5 | #9,347 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shanequa a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shanequa has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 32 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shanequa: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shanequa, and how old are they?
1,820 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 1,874 Americans ever recorded as Shanequa. The median Shanequa alive today is 35 years old; half are between 34 and 41.
The 2020 Census counted 1,428 people named Shanequa (1,428 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,834 born in the U.S. The Census count is 22% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 260 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,460 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 102 |
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 Shanequa born?
The states with the most babies named Shanequa are New York, Texas and Georgia, with 55% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 439 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| Texas | 191 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Georgia | 87 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| South Carolina | 77 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| North Carolina | 73 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Florida | 60 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Mississippi | 52 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Alabama | 49 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 46 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Virginia | 41 | not ranked | 0.9× |
Where Shanequa is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shanequa is most over-represented in New York: since 1971 it was given 3.3 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 Shanequa 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 9,321 babies since 1880, Shanequa is the second most given (20% 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 Shanequa
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 Shanequa and names like it
- Compare Shanequa and ShaniquaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sShanequa peaked in 1991.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shanequa since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Shanequa: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Shanequa.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shanequa alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.