Shonda
Shonda was last recorded in 2008, when 5 babies were given it; 7,444 Americans have been recorded with it between 1954 and 2008 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,960 Americans named Shonda and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (94% of everyone recorded); the median is 52 years old and half are between 46 and 56.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shonda by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shonda mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shonda is “a female given name of modern usage.”
Perhaps a blend of Shona + Rhonda.
/ˈʃɔn.də/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shonda?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #20,037, in 2008; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
510 babies in 1970, the peak
Shonda peaked in 1970, when 510 girls were given it, #432 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 5 | #20,037 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #20,117 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 9 | #12,278 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 8 | #12,584 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 5 | #18,013 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 7 | #13,413 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 5 | #17,558 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 16 | #6,754 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 14 | #7,169 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 17 | #6,030 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (54)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | 21 | #4,979 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 19 | #5,253 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 30 | #3,650 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 45 | #2,739 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 38 | #3,096 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 56 | #2,338 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 62 | #2,152 | 0.03 |
| 1990 | 67 | #2,021 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 71 | #1,865 | 0.04 |
| 1988 | 84 | #1,573 | 0.05 |
| 1987 | 111 | #1,273 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 103 | #1,303 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 128 | #1,132 | 0.07 |
| 1984 | 146 | #995 | 0.09 |
| 1983 | 171 | #887 | 0.10 |
| 1982 | 184 | #848 | 0.11 |
| 1981 | 207 | #787 | 0.12 |
| 1980 | 235 | #714 | 0.14 |
| 1979 | 270 | #646 | 0.17 |
| 1978 | 306 | #568 | 0.20 |
| 1977 | 315 | #558 | 0.21 |
| 1976 | 420 | #458 | 0.29 |
| 1975 | 441 | #447 | 0.30 |
| 1974 | 440 | #442 | 0.30 |
| 1973 | 468 | #419 | 0.32 |
| 1972 | 438 | #439 | 0.29 |
| 1971 | 466 | #445 | 0.28 |
| 1970 | 510 | #432 | 0.29 |
| 1969 | 402 | #483 | 0.24 |
| 1968 | 219 | #658 | 0.13 |
| 1967 | 180 | #732 | 0.11 |
| 1966 | 159 | #782 | 0.09 |
| 1965 | 117 | #949 | 0.07 |
| 1964 | 97 | #1,118 | 0.05 |
| 1963 | 75 | #1,277 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 48 | #1,647 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 52 | #1,576 | 0.03 |
| 1960 | 41 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1959 | 23 | #2,449 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 26 | #2,250 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 28 | #2,109 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 9 | #4,429 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 18 | #2,709 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 7 | #5,076 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shonda a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shonda has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 54 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shonda: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shonda, and how old are they?
6,960 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 94% of the 7,444 Americans ever recorded as Shonda. The median Shonda alive today is 52 years old; half are between 46 and 56.
The 2020 Census counted 6,481 people named Shonda (6,458 women and girls, 23 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 7,096 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 360 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5,020 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,470 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 111 |
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 Shonda born?
The states with the most babies named Shonda are Texas, Georgia and Louisiana, with 28% 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 763 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 458 | not ranked | 2.3× |
| Louisiana | 400 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Ohio | 370 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| North Carolina | 367 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Mississippi | 274 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| California | 270 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New Jersey | 245 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Florida | 233 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Tennessee | 229 | not ranked | 1.4× |
Where Shonda is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shonda is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1954 it was given 2.8 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 Shonda with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Shonda
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 Shonda and names like it
- Compare Shonda and BilliejoBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShonda peaked in 1970.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shonda since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Shonda.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shonda alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.