Shanan
UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Shanan has been given to 868 babies in the U.S. since 1955. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1970, with 53 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 86% girls, 14% boys all-time.
Babies named Shanan, 1998
1 in 334,000
Shanan over time, 1880–2025
Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
Girls or boys — Shanan over time
In 1998, Shanan went to 100% girls and 0% boys.
A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.
How common is Shanan?
Shanan had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1998, the last year it was published.
- Among all babies, 1998
- 1 in 334,000
- 11 of 3,677,189 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 161,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 1998
- Unranked
- Fewer than 5 uses
- Coin-flip room size
- 231,713 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Shanan sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 1998 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 231,713 children born in 1998 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shanan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Shanans were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Shanan was born before 1976 — so the typical Shanan is around 49 today.
- Biggest decade
- 1970s
- 49.0% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 63.1%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 745
- People you could plausibly meet
1970s — 49.0% of all recorded uses (365).
Is Shanan rising or falling?
Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.
- Rank vs 1 year ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- New entry
- Not ranked then
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not ranked then
- Births vs 10 years ago
- —
- Not published both years
- Share of its own peak
- 0%
- Peak was 1970 (53)
- Years since peak
- 55
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 27.5% average annual change
Spellings of Shanan
Shanan is not the most common spelling — Sharon is, with 51.4% against Shanan's 0.05%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Where Shanan is used
Across 1910–2025, Shanan was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 905,371 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
- 2New York1 in —
- 3Ohio1 in —
- 4Pennsylvania1 in —
- 5Texas1 in —
Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Shanan has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Shanan around the world
Where Shanan ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.
- England & Wales1999–2002#2,868in 2002
- South Australia1979–1990#691in 1990
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Shanan by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Shanan
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Shanan
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.