Shemeka
Shemeka was last recorded in 2003, when 6 babies were given it; 1,563 Americans have been recorded with it between 1971 and 2003 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,500 Americans named Shemeka and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 41 and 48.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shemeka by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shemeka?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,468, in 2003; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
135 babies in 1982, the peak
Shemeka peaked in 1982, when 135 girls were given it, #1,067 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 6 | #15,468 | 3.3 |
| 2000 | 6 | #14,734 | 3.3 |
| 1997 | 8 | #10,668 | 4.6 |
| 1996 | 7 | #11,613 | 4.0 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,650 | 5.7 |
| 1994 | 13 | #7,018 | 7.3 |
| 1993 | 18 | #5,392 | 9.9 |
| 1992 | 25 | #4,208 | 13.6 |
| 1991 | 31 | #3,523 | 16.5 |
| 1990 | 39 | #2,944 | 20.5 |
Every recorded year (29)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | 41 | #2,755 | 22.2 |
| 1988 | 45 | #2,435 | 25.3 |
| 1987 | 45 | #2,355 | 25.9 |
| 1986 | 71 | #1,665 | 41.4 |
| 1985 | 85 | #1,468 | 49.4 |
| 1984 | 85 | #1,387 | 50.5 |
| 1983 | 90 | #1,344 | 53.9 |
| 1982 | 135 | #1,067 | 79.7 |
| 1981 | 120 | #1,144 | 71.9 |
| 1980 | 122 | #1,121 | 73.5 |
| 1979 | 131 | #1,059 | 81.6 |
| 1978 | 122 | #1,082 | 79.6 |
| 1977 | 83 | #1,367 | 54.1 |
| 1976 | 79 | #1,371 | 53.9 |
| 1975 | 49 | #1,869 | 33.6 |
| 1974 | 41 | #2,058 | 27.9 |
| 1973 | 23 | #2,998 | 15.8 |
| 1972 | 24 | #2,888 | 15.8 |
| 1971 | 9 | #5,911 | 5.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shemeka a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shemeka has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 29 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shemeka: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shemeka, and how old are they?
1,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,563 Americans ever recorded as Shemeka. The median Shemeka alive today is 45 years old; half are between 41 and 48.
The 2020 Census counted 1,209 people named Shemeka (1,208 women and girls, 1 man or boy). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,516 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% 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 | 648 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 832 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 20 |
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 Shemeka born?
The states with the most babies named Shemeka are Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, with 37% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Louisiana is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Georgia | 127 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Louisiana | 113 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Texas | 100 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Mississippi | 97 | not ranked | 5.2× |
| North Carolina | 86 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Alabama | 84 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Florida | 78 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| South Carolina | 67 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Virginia | 61 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Illinois | 37 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Shemeka is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shemeka is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1971 it was given 3.5 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 Shemeka 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 3,961 babies since 1880, Shemeka is the most given (39% 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 Shemeka
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 Shemeka and names like it
- Compare Shemeka and ShemikaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sShemeka peaked in 1982.
- Georgia’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shemeka since 1910.
- The top names of 1982The year the most babies were named Shemeka.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shemeka alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.