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Shani

#12,976 in 2025Girls' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Shani has been given to 4,542 babies in the U.S. since 1962. In 2025 it ranked #12,976 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1969, with 223 recorded.

Babies named Shani, 2025

1 in 474,000

Shani over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shani: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shani means

Shani has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Shani

One of the source’s documented entries for Shani records a meaning of red, scarlet.

One of the source’s documented entries for Shani records a proposed meaning of slow-moving.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,525 girls were recorded with the name Shani between 1962 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 223 in 1969; its best national rank was #665 in 1969.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #6,879 in 2020 to #12,976 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #4,965 in 2015 to #12,976 in 2025.

In the United States, 17 boys were recorded with the name Shani between 1975 and 2000. Its highest annual count was 6 in 1975; its best national rank was #5,348 in 1975.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Shani?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 474,000
7 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 230,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#12,976
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shani sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shani. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shanis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shani was born before 1984 — so the typical Shani is around 41 today.

Median birth year
1984
About 41 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
31.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
18.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
4,525
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 31.6% of all recorded uses (1,429).

Is Shani 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
−6,371
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−6,097
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−8,011
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.25×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
3.1%
Peak was 1969 (223)
Years since peak
56
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#665
1969

Spellings of Shani

Shani is not the most common spelling — Sheri is, with 8.5% against Shani's 0.63%.

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 Shani is used

Across 1910–2025, Shani was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 20,000 girls, against 1 in 57,175 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

05 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 20,000
  2. 2California1 in 25,000
  3. 3Florida1 in 33,333
  4. 4District of Columbia1 in 50,000
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 50,000
  6. 6Colorado1 in 100,000
  7. 7Georgia1 in 100,000
  8. 8Illinois1 in 100,000

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. Shani has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shani around the world

Where Shani 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 & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,201
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1988–1988
    #511
    in 1988
  • France
    1986–2025
    #3,784
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #3,027
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1961–2008
    #796
    in 2008

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Shani

People whose public names include Shani, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Shani by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#12,976
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 6,097
Best rank ever
#665
1969
Peak year
1969
223 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,525
Count in 2025
7

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,348
1975
Peak year
1975
6 that year
First recorded
1975
Last recorded
2000
All-time count
17
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Shani

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

SharaShayeShastaShanaeShaeShailaSharlaShayneAvaniShanelShayShayaShaneShamyaShanellEmaniShaunShantiShaiShadeShainaShaelynShahdElani

Names with a curve like Shani

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Shani, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

AngelicKarenaCristaDeliciaNicolleShawnnaDaciaKenyattaCelenaDanieleChrissyRacquel

Sibling names for Shani

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Shani

Top names of 1969, Shani's peak yearThe 1960s in fullOther names that peaked in 1969Girls' names starting with S