Shona
Shona was last recorded in 2024, when 6 babies were given it; 2,414 Americans have been recorded with it between 1943 and 2024 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,240 Americans named Shona and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 44 and 57.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shona by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shona mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shona is “a female given name from Scottish Gaelic.”
Scottish Anglicized form of Seonag ( =Joan) and an American variant of Shauna.
/ˈʃəʊnə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shona?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,019, in 2024; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
160 babies in 1970, the peak
Shona peaked in 1970, when 160 girls were given it, #847 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 6 | #15,019 | 3.7 |
| 2021 | 5 | #17,331 | 3.0 |
| 2016 | 5 | #18,488 | 2.8 |
| 2015 | 7 | #14,292 | 3.9 |
| 2014 | 7 | #14,342 | 3.9 |
| 2012 | 11 | #10,332 | 6.2 |
| 2011 | 7 | #14,624 | 4.0 |
| 2009 | 10 | #11,350 | 5.4 |
| 2008 | 11 | #10,689 | 5.8 |
| 2007 | 7 | #15,245 | 3.6 |
Every recorded year (67)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | 11 | #10,507 | 5.8 |
| 2005 | 14 | #8,262 | 7.6 |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,567 | 5.4 |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,625 | 3.8 |
| 2002 | 9 | #10,971 | 5.0 |
| 2001 | 12 | #8,661 | 6.7 |
| 2000 | 15 | #7,106 | 8.3 |
| 1999 | 13 | #7,644 | 7.3 |
| 1998 | 14 | #7,046 | 7.9 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,694 | 5.2 |
| 1996 | 15 | #6,339 | 8.6 |
| 1995 | 13 | #6,977 | 7.4 |
| 1994 | 13 | #7,022 | 7.3 |
| 1993 | 25 | #4,227 | 13.8 |
| 1992 | 18 | #5,440 | 9.8 |
| 1991 | 23 | #4,465 | 12.3 |
| 1990 | 31 | #3,502 | 16.3 |
| 1989 | 18 | #5,021 | 9.8 |
| 1988 | 43 | #2,524 | 24.1 |
| 1987 | 33 | #2,964 | 19.0 |
| 1986 | 21 | #4,006 | 12.2 |
| 1985 | 30 | #3,071 | 17.4 |
| 1984 | 41 | #2,374 | 24.3 |
| 1983 | 39 | #2,422 | 23.3 |
| 1982 | 35 | #2,691 | 20.7 |
| 1981 | 59 | #1,864 | 35.4 |
| 1980 | 90 | #1,393 | 54.2 |
| 1979 | 65 | #1,708 | 40.5 |
| 1978 | 106 | #1,191 | 69.2 |
| 1977 | 87 | #1,330 | 56.7 |
| 1976 | 72 | #1,460 | 49.1 |
| 1975 | 66 | #1,542 | 45.3 |
| 1974 | 85 | #1,276 | 57.9 |
| 1973 | 97 | #1,141 | 66.5 |
| 1972 | 98 | #1,131 | 64.4 |
| 1971 | 122 | #1,019 | 73.3 |
| 1970 | 160 | #847 | 91.5 |
| 1969 | 128 | #942 | 75.9 |
| 1968 | 76 | #1,265 | 46.3 |
| 1967 | 57 | #1,491 | 34.5 |
| 1966 | 61 | #1,414 | 36.0 |
| 1965 | 57 | #1,483 | 32.3 |
| 1964 | 54 | #1,557 | 28.5 |
| 1963 | 79 | #1,238 | 41.0 |
| 1962 | 31 | #2,152 | 15.8 |
| 1961 | 35 | #1,993 | 17.3 |
| 1960 | 24 | #2,500 | 11.9 |
| 1959 | 25 | #2,330 | 12.4 |
| 1958 | 11 | #3,898 | 5.5 |
| 1957 | 15 | #3,133 | 7.3 |
| 1956 | 11 | #3,875 | 5.5 |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,549 | 6.1 |
| 1954 | 15 | #3,001 | 7.7 |
| 1952 | 9 | #4,081 | 4.9 |
| 1950 | 6 | #5,221 | 3.5 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,192 | 4.7 |
| 1943 | 5 | #5,283 | 3.6 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shona a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shona has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 67 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shona: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shona, and how old are they?
2,240 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 2,414 Americans ever recorded as Shona. The median Shona alive today is 52 years old; half are between 44 and 57.
The 2020 Census counted 2,442 people named Shona (2,421 women and girls, 21 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,279 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 281 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,330 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 443 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 158 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 30 |
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 Shona born?
The states with the most babies named Shona are California, Texas and New York, with 52% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 173 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Texas | 108 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 63 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 57 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 36 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 33 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Georgia | 29 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Michigan | 22 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Mississippi | 19 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Louisiana | 18 | not ranked | 0.4× |
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 Shona 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 5,913 babies since 1880, Shona is the second most given (41% 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 Shona
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 Shona and names like it
- Compare Shona and ShonnaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShona peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shona since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Shona: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Shona.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shona alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.