Shaniqua
Shaniqua was last recorded in 2010, when 8 babies were given it; 5,117 Americans have been recorded with it between 1971 and 2010 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 4,980 Americans named Shaniqua and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 33 and 37.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shaniqua by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shaniqua mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shaniqua is “a female given name originating as a coinage, of African-American usage.” Its etymology gives the senses “novelty” (shani) and “God is gracious” (Siân).
Popularized in the 1970s among African Americans, possibly influenced by Swahili shani (“novelty”) or Welsh Siân (Joanna, “God is gracious”); compare other names starting with Shan- like Shanice, Shanika, Shanita.
/ʃəˈniːkwə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shaniqua?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,275, in 2010; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
861 babies in 1991, the peak
Shaniqua peaked in 1991, when 861 girls were given it, #313 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 8 | #13,275 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 5 | #20,001 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #20,075 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 10 | #11,284 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 7 | #14,264 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 16 | #7,332 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 19 | #6,258 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 16 | #6,989 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 21 | #5,535 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 26 | #4,630 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (39)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 36 | #3,494 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 69 | #2,116 | 0.04 |
| 1997 | 105 | #1,546 | 0.06 |
| 1996 | 132 | #1,308 | 0.08 |
| 1995 | 184 | #1,008 | 0.10 |
| 1994 | 259 | #789 | 0.15 |
| 1993 | 433 | #549 | 0.24 |
| 1992 | 604 | #420 | 0.33 |
| 1991 | 861 | #313 | 0.46 |
| 1990 | 842 | #327 | 0.44 |
| 1989 | 186 | #951 | 0.10 |
| 1988 | 141 | #1,106 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 110 | #1,279 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 121 | #1,176 | 0.07 |
| 1985 | 131 | #1,107 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 92 | #1,328 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 100 | #1,259 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 82 | #1,471 | 0.05 |
| 1981 | 77 | #1,558 | 0.05 |
| 1980 | 93 | #1,359 | 0.06 |
| 1979 | 69 | #1,640 | 0.04 |
| 1978 | 56 | #1,819 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 49 | #1,998 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 48 | #1,906 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 40 | #2,160 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 23 | #3,080 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 13 | #4,533 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 13 | #4,485 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 15 | #4,087 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shaniqua a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shaniqua has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 39 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shaniqua: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shaniqua, and how old are they?
4,980 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 5,117 Americans ever recorded as Shaniqua. The median Shaniqua alive today is 35 years old; half are between 33 and 37.
The 2020 Census counted 4,074 people named Shaniqua (4,068 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,018 born in the U.S. The Census count is 19% 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 | 397 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 4,250 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 338 |
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 Shaniqua born?
The states with the most babies named Shaniqua are New York, Texas and North Carolina, with 38% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 983 | not ranked | 2.7× |
| Texas | 347 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 296 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Georgia | 275 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| South Carolina | 227 | not ranked | 3.3× |
| Virginia | 227 | not ranked | 1.8× |
| Florida | 218 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 200 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 187 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Michigan | 163 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Shaniqua is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shaniqua is most over-represented in South Carolina: 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 Shaniqua 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 10,419 babies since 1880, Shaniqua is the most given (49% 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 Shaniqua
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 Shaniqua and names like it
- Compare Shaniqua and ShanequaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sShaniqua peaked in 1991.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shaniqua since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Shaniqua: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Shaniqua.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shaniqua alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.