Shannan
Shannan was last recorded in 2012, when 6 babies were given it; 5,479 Americans have been recorded with it between 1950 and 2012 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,150 Americans named Shannan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 41 and 55.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shannan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shannan?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,540, in 2012; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
305 babies in 1970, the peak
Shannan peaked in 1970, when 305 babies were given it (283 girls, #612 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6 | #16,540 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 6 | #16,465 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 6 | #16,652 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 7 | #14,988 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,677 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #7,680 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 15 | #8,174 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 13 | #8,788 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 14 | #8,166 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 18 | #6,528 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 25 | #4,876 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 33 | #3,923 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 29 | #4,271 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 53 | #2,666 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 40 | #3,162 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 57 | #2,354 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 50 | #2,547 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 65 | #2,091 | 0.04 |
| 1994 | 85 | #1,736 | 0.05 |
| 1993 | 94 | #1,622 | 0.05 |
| 1992 | 90 | #1,679 | 0.05 |
| 1991 | 73 | #1,922 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 62 | #2,119 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 86 | #1,621 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 67 | #1,855 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 97 | #1,394 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 81 | #1,524 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 132 | #1,102 | 0.08 |
| 1984 | 125 | #1,109 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 120 | #1,125 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 159 | #941 | 0.09 |
| 1981 | 150 | #981 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 187 | #839 | 0.11 |
| 1979 | 203 | #784 | 0.13 |
| 1978 | 196 | #781 | 0.13 |
| 1977 | 219 | #708 | 0.14 |
| 1976 | 234 | #657 | 0.16 |
| 1975 | 172 | #803 | 0.12 |
| 1974 | 164 | #821 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 188 | #744 | 0.13 |
| 1972 | 237 | #644 | 0.16 |
| 1971 | 265 | #628 | 0.16 |
| 1970 | 283 | #612 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 284 | #588 | 0.17 |
| 1968 | 160 | #793 | 0.10 |
| 1967 | 89 | #1,116 | 0.05 |
| 1966 | 80 | #1,207 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 59 | #1,444 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 46 | #1,724 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 50 | #1,619 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 23 | #2,590 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 35 | #1,991 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 20 | #2,802 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 16 | #3,082 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 15 | #3,208 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,276 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 15 | #3,154 | 0.01 |
| 1955 | 6 | #5,724 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,485 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 6 | #5,461 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 5 | #5,977 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shannan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 5,479 Americans recorded as Shannan, 94% are girls and 6% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shannan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shannan, and how old are they?
5,150 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 5,479 Americans ever recorded as Shannan. The median Shannan alive today is 49 years old; half are between 41 and 55.
The 2020 Census counted 5,118 people named Shannan (4,852 women and girls, 266 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,241 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 221 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,040 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,550 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 350 |
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 Shannan born?
The states with the most babies named Shannan are California, Texas and Pennsylvania, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 602 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Texas | 307 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 235 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Ohio | 228 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 197 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Illinois | 162 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 162 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Florida | 155 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Georgia | 86 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Indiana | 82 | not ranked | 0.6× |
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 Shannan 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 364,293 babies since 1880, Shannan is the third most given (1.5% of them). In 2025 none of their 116 babies recorded by SSA was a Shannan (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 Shannan
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 Shannan and names like it
- Compare Shannan and ShannonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShannan peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shannan since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Shannan.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shannan alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.