Shawanda
Shawanda was last recorded in 2007, when 5 babies were given it; 2,853 Americans have been recorded with it between 1960 and 2007 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,720 Americans named Shawanda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 41 and 51.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shawanda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shawanda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shawanda 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 Shawanda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #20,094, in 2007; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
186 babies in 1977, the peak
Shawanda peaked in 1977, when 186 girls were given it, #810 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 5 | #20,094 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 5 | #18,368 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 5 | #17,534 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,459 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 8 | #11,199 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 9 | #9,968 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 17 | #5,827 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 25 | #4,286 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 23 | #4,483 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 28 | #3,875 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (43)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 36 | #3,209 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 62 | #2,180 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 81 | #1,771 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 68 | #2,003 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 64 | #1,991 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 65 | #1,905 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 80 | #1,579 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 80 | #1,534 | 0.05 |
| 1985 | 108 | #1,262 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 78 | #1,486 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 108 | #1,198 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 114 | #1,197 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 151 | #974 | 0.09 |
| 1980 | 153 | #975 | 0.09 |
| 1979 | 185 | #845 | 0.12 |
| 1978 | 177 | #840 | 0.12 |
| 1977 | 186 | #810 | 0.12 |
| 1976 | 162 | #847 | 0.11 |
| 1975 | 139 | #928 | 0.10 |
| 1974 | 112 | #1,061 | 0.08 |
| 1973 | 101 | #1,118 | 0.07 |
| 1972 | 86 | #1,235 | 0.06 |
| 1971 | 71 | #1,464 | 0.04 |
| 1970 | 60 | #1,596 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 55 | #1,629 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 35 | #2,048 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 26 | #2,425 | 0.02 |
| 1966 | 26 | #2,397 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 12 | #3,917 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 17 | #3,214 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,456 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,760 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 6 | #6,277 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shawanda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shawanda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 43 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shawanda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shawanda, and how old are they?
2,720 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 2,853 Americans ever recorded as Shawanda. The median Shawanda alive today is 47 years old; half are between 41 and 51.
The 2020 Census counted 2,260 people named Shawanda (2,260 women and girls, 0 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,754 born in the U.S. The Census count is 18% 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 | 30 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,490 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,140 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 60 |
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 Shawanda born?
The states with the most babies named Shawanda are Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi, with 45% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana and Mississippi are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana | 352 | not ranked | 6.0× |
| Georgia | 285 | not ranked | 3.8× |
| Mississippi | 241 | not ranked | 6.9× |
| Florida | 208 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| New York | 155 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Alabama | 139 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Illinois | 117 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| North Carolina | 108 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Virginia | 89 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| South Carolina | 87 | not ranked | 2.2× |
Where Shawanda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shawanda is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1960 it was given 6.9 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 Shawanda 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 5,647 babies since 1880, Shawanda is the most given (51% 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 Shawanda
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 Shawanda and names like it
- Compare Shawanda and ShawndaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShawanda peaked in 1977.
- Louisiana’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shawanda since 1910.
- Coined namesWiktionary’s origin for Shawanda: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1977The year the most babies were named Shawanda.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shawanda alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.