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Shoniqua

Girls' name

Possibly novelty, through Shaniqua

Shoniqua has been given to 41 babies in the U.S. since 1984. 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 1993, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Shoniqua, 1993

1 in 343,000

Shoniqua over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shoniqua: meaning, origin, and history

Possibly novelty, through Shaniqua

coinages

What Shoniqua means

Shoniqua belongs to the name family reached through Shoniqua → Shaniqua. Its meaning is “novelty”.

Origin, language, and formation

Shoniqua is used in English. Its origins include coinages.

Shoniqua is a modern formation.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Shaniqua.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 41 girls were recorded with the name Shoniqua between 1984 and 1993. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1993; its best national rank was #7,969 in 1993.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Shoniqua?

Shoniqua had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1993, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1993
1 in 343,000
11 of 3,768,729 births
Among girls only
1 in 164,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1993
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
237,482 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shoniqua 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 1993 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 237,482 children born in 1993 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shoniqua. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shoniquas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shoniqua was born before 1991 — so the typical Shoniqua is around 34 today.

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
73.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
41
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 73.2% of all recorded uses (30).

Is Shoniqua 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 1993 (11)
Years since peak
32
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
35.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#7,969
1993

Spellings of Shoniqua

Shoniqua is not the most common spelling — Shaniqua is, with 51.5% against Shoniqua's 0.41%.

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.

Shoniqua by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,969
1993
Peak year
1993
11 that year
First recorded
1984
Last recorded
1993
All-time count
41
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Shoniqua

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

ShonettaShontinaShontayeShondriaShonelleShoniqueShonteeShonnetteShondrekaShonellShontrellShowandaShonnonSholondaShondaleShondalaChenequaShondreaShondelShonteriaShomariShamiquaShonicaShoronda

Sibling names for Shoniqua

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 Shoniqua

Top names of 1993, Shoniqua's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1993Girls' names starting with S