Shanita
Shanita was last recorded in 2008, when 10 babies were given it; 3,450 Americans have been recorded with it between 1959 and 2008 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,310 Americans named Shanita and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 43 years old and half are between 37 and 48.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shanita by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shanita mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shanita is “a female given name originating as a coinage, of African-American usage.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shanita?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #11,466, in 2008; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
184 babies in 1978, the peak
Shanita peaked in 1978, when 184 girls were given it, #816 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 10 | #11,466 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 7 | #15,224 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,892 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,792 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,553 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 8 | #12,218 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 8 | #12,005 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,107 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 18 | #6,166 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 11 | #8,700 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (47)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 21 | #5,094 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 21 | #4,975 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 34 | #3,414 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 45 | #2,719 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 45 | #2,738 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 76 | #1,874 | 0.04 |
| 1992 | 99 | #1,568 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 128 | #1,300 | 0.07 |
| 1990 | 145 | #1,178 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 170 | #1,009 | 0.09 |
| 1988 | 142 | #1,102 | 0.08 |
| 1987 | 164 | #969 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 153 | #1,011 | 0.09 |
| 1985 | 172 | #924 | 0.10 |
| 1984 | 144 | #1,003 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 180 | #851 | 0.11 |
| 1982 | 170 | #896 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 166 | #905 | 0.10 |
| 1980 | 175 | #879 | 0.11 |
| 1979 | 148 | #971 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 184 | #816 | 0.12 |
| 1977 | 105 | #1,180 | 0.07 |
| 1976 | 126 | #1,002 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 109 | #1,081 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 92 | #1,208 | 0.06 |
| 1973 | 86 | #1,229 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 62 | #1,524 | 0.04 |
| 1971 | 46 | #1,901 | 0.03 |
| 1970 | 38 | #2,150 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 28 | #2,498 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,575 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 13 | #3,806 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 18 | #3,021 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,334 | under 0.01 |
| 1963 | 10 | #4,485 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 7 | #5,743 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #6,109 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shanita a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shanita has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 47 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shanita: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shanita, and how old are they?
3,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 3,450 Americans ever recorded as Shanita. The median Shanita alive today is 43 years old; half are between 37 and 48.
The 2020 Census counted 2,763 people named Shanita (2,757 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,349 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 20 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,180 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,970 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 142 |
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 Shanita born?
The states with the most babies named Shanita are North Carolina, Illinois and Michigan, with 31% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 250 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Illinois | 228 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Michigan | 219 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| New York | 185 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 179 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Virginia | 151 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Florida | 150 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Maryland | 117 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| California | 94 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Alabama | 86 | not ranked | 1.5× |
Where Shanita is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shanita is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1959 it was given 2.8 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 Shanita 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 21,937 babies since 1880, Shanita is the third most given (16% 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 Shanita
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 Shanita and names like it
- Compare Shanita and ShanteBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShanita peaked in 1978.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shanita since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Shanita: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Shanita.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shanita alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.