Shannah
Shannah was last recorded in 2014, when 7 babies were given it; 1,378 Americans have been recorded with it between 1945 and 2014 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,320 Americans named Shannah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 41 years old and half are between 32 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shannah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shannah?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,331, in 2014; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
51 babies in 1978, the peak
Shannah peaked in 1978, when 51 girls were given it, #1,932 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 7 | #14,331 | 3.9 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,974 | 4.6 |
| 2012 | 5 | #19,120 | 2.8 |
| 2011 | 5 | #19,122 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 8 | #13,494 | 4.4 |
| 2008 | 16 | #8,049 | 8.5 |
| 2007 | 14 | #8,930 | 7.3 |
| 2006 | 10 | #11,287 | 5.3 |
| 2005 | 19 | #6,491 | 10.3 |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,564 | 4.4 |
Every recorded year (56)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 18 | #6,527 | 9.9 |
| 2002 | 19 | #6,084 | 10.6 |
| 2001 | 26 | #4,661 | 14.4 |
| 2000 | 24 | #4,949 | 13.2 |
| 1999 | 31 | #3,876 | 17.5 |
| 1998 | 28 | #4,121 | 15.8 |
| 1997 | 19 | #5,374 | 10.9 |
| 1996 | 31 | #3,612 | 17.7 |
| 1995 | 35 | #3,272 | 19.9 |
| 1994 | 42 | #2,867 | 23.5 |
| 1993 | 45 | #2,708 | 24.9 |
| 1992 | 33 | #3,394 | 17.9 |
| 1991 | 36 | #3,140 | 19.2 |
| 1990 | 41 | #2,837 | 21.6 |
| 1989 | 26 | #3,874 | 14.1 |
| 1988 | 36 | #2,917 | 20.2 |
| 1987 | 43 | #2,427 | 24.7 |
| 1986 | 34 | #2,833 | 19.8 |
| 1985 | 36 | #2,693 | 20.9 |
| 1984 | 36 | #2,615 | 21.4 |
| 1983 | 39 | #2,421 | 23.3 |
| 1982 | 40 | #2,442 | 23.6 |
| 1981 | 46 | #2,223 | 27.6 |
| 1980 | 46 | #2,211 | 27.7 |
| 1979 | 48 | #2,107 | 29.9 |
| 1978 | 51 | #1,932 | 33.3 |
| 1977 | 47 | #2,055 | 30.7 |
| 1976 | 33 | #2,474 | 22.5 |
| 1975 | 30 | #2,603 | 20.6 |
| 1974 | 24 | #2,989 | 16.4 |
| 1973 | 29 | #2,554 | 19.9 |
| 1972 | 24 | #2,887 | 15.8 |
| 1971 | 30 | #2,529 | 18.0 |
| 1970 | 30 | #2,507 | 17.2 |
| 1969 | 33 | #2,243 | 19.6 |
| 1968 | 15 | #3,576 | 9.1 |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,615 | 8.5 |
| 1966 | 8 | #5,196 | 4.7 |
| 1965 | 5 | #7,335 | 2.8 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,624 | 2.6 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,839 | 4.7 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,447 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 11 | #4,191 | 5.4 |
| 1958 | 5 | #6,856 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 5 | #6,870 | 2.4 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,469 | 4.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shannah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shannah has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 56 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shannah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shannah, and how old are they?
1,320 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,378 Americans ever recorded as Shannah. The median Shannah alive today is 41 years old; half are between 32 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 1,234 people named Shannah (1,229 women and girls, 5 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,336 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 35 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 438 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 582 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 247 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 15 |
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).
How common is the spelling Shannah?
Shannah is a less common spelling of Shana: SSA has recorded 1,378 Shannah and 29,748 Shana since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 135,186 babies since 1880, Shannah is the eighth most given (1.0% of them). In 2025 none of their 267 babies recorded by SSA was a Shannah (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Shannah
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 Shannah and names like it
- Compare Shannah and ShanaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShannah peaked in 1978.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shannah since 1910.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Shannah.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shannah alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.