Shenita
Shenita was last recorded in 2000, when 5 babies were given it; 1,550 Americans have been recorded with it between 1954 and 2000 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,460 Americans named Shenita and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 48 years old and half are between 42 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shenita by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shenita?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #17,203, in 2000; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
85 babies in 1978, the peak
Shenita peaked in 1978, when 85 girls were given it, #1,385 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 5 | #17,203 | 2.8 |
| 1997 | 7 | #11,901 | 4.0 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,509 | 2.9 |
| 1994 | 8 | #10,398 | 4.5 |
| 1993 | 11 | #7,964 | 6.1 |
| 1992 | 20 | #5,018 | 10.8 |
| 1991 | 26 | #4,033 | 13.9 |
| 1990 | 37 | #3,060 | 19.5 |
| 1989 | 37 | #2,972 | 20.1 |
| 1988 | 39 | #2,732 | 21.9 |
Every recorded year (42)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 30 | #3,155 | 17.3 |
| 1986 | 70 | #1,688 | 40.8 |
| 1985 | 60 | #1,877 | 34.9 |
| 1984 | 57 | #1,883 | 33.9 |
| 1983 | 74 | #1,529 | 44.3 |
| 1982 | 55 | #1,945 | 32.5 |
| 1981 | 62 | #1,805 | 37.2 |
| 1980 | 67 | #1,701 | 40.4 |
| 1979 | 62 | #1,764 | 38.6 |
| 1978 | 85 | #1,385 | 55.5 |
| 1977 | 55 | #1,854 | 35.9 |
| 1976 | 73 | #1,442 | 49.8 |
| 1975 | 61 | #1,622 | 41.8 |
| 1974 | 75 | #1,383 | 51.1 |
| 1973 | 58 | #1,604 | 39.8 |
| 1972 | 52 | #1,717 | 34.2 |
| 1971 | 40 | #2,099 | 24.0 |
| 1970 | 42 | #2,007 | 24.0 |
| 1969 | 29 | #2,443 | 17.2 |
| 1968 | 34 | #2,085 | 20.7 |
| 1967 | 20 | #2,856 | 12.1 |
| 1966 | 33 | #2,049 | 19.5 |
| 1965 | 27 | #2,333 | 15.3 |
| 1964 | 23 | #2,655 | 12.1 |
| 1963 | 21 | #2,766 | 10.9 |
| 1962 | 15 | #3,417 | 7.6 |
| 1961 | 17 | #3,168 | 8.4 |
| 1960 | 19 | #2,889 | 9.4 |
| 1959 | 16 | #3,085 | 7.9 |
| 1958 | 13 | #3,523 | 6.5 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,752 | 2.5 |
| 1954 | 5 | #6,500 | 2.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shenita a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shenita has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 42 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shenita: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shenita, and how old are they?
1,460 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 1,550 Americans ever recorded as Shenita. The median Shenita alive today is 48 years old; half are between 42 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 1,219 people named Shenita (1,217 women and girls, 2 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,483 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 | 114 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 760 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 572 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 12 |
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 Shenita born?
The states with the most babies named Shenita are North Carolina, Georgia and Illinois, with 53% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 101 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| Georgia | 82 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Illinois | 67 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Florida | 54 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Louisiana | 43 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Alabama | 39 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Michigan | 26 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Virginia | 24 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 12 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Mississippi | 6 | not ranked | 0.3× |
Where Shenita is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shenita is most over-represented in North Carolina: since 1954 it was given 2.5 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 Shenita 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 1,780 babies since 1880, Shenita is the most given (87% 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 Shenita
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 Shenita and names like it
- Compare Shenita and ShenettaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShenita peaked in 1978.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shenita since 1910.
- The top names of 1978The year the most babies were named Shenita.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shenita alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.