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Shun

Boys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Shun has been given to 939 babies in the U.S. since 1925. 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 1980, with 41 recorded.

Babies named Shun, 2023

1 in 663,000

Shun over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020406018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shun: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shun means

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

The naming story behind Shun

One of the source’s documented entries for Shun records a meaning of obey, smooth, agreeable, suitable.

One of the source’s documented entries for Shun records a meaning of fast.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 909 boys were recorded with the name Shun between 1925 and 2023. Its highest annual count was 41 in 1980; its best national rank was #1,325 in 1973.

In the United States, 30 girls were recorded with the name Shun between 1969 and 1976. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1969; its best national rank was #5,390 in 1969.

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 Shun?

Shun had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2023, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2023
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,314,783 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2023
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
459,528 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shun sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2023 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 459,528 children born in 2023 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shun. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shuns were born

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

Median birth year
1984
About 41 years old
Biggest decade
1970s
30.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
28.4%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
904
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1970s — 30.8% of all recorded uses (280).

Is Shun 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 1980 (41)
Years since peak
45
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
25.3% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,325
1973

Spellings of Shun

Shun is not the most common spelling — Sean is, with 38.0% against Shun's 0.08%.

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 Shun is used

Across 1910–2025, Shun was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 680,561 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in —
  2. 2Georgia1 in —
  3. 3Illinois1 in —
  4. 4Louisiana1 in —
  5. 5Mississippi1 in —
  6. 6Tennessee1 in —
  7. 7Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Shun has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shun around the world

Where Shun 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
    1999–2013
    #3,822
    in 2013
  • France
    1993–2025
    #4,076
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1994–2019
    #2,943
    in 2019
  • South Australia
    1989–1989
    #478
    in 1989

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS 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.

Shun by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#1,325
1973
Peak year
1980
41 that year
First recorded
1925
Last recorded
2023
All-time count
909
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,390
1969
Peak year
1969
9 that year
First recorded
1969
Last recorded
1976
All-time count
30
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Shun

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

ShubhShulemShuaibShuaKeshunDeshunShuShubhamShuaybShuanJashunNahunRashunDashunChunTyshunOshunLashunShuraimShueRayshunShuronShunnShukuru

Sibling names for Shun

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 Shun

Top names of 1980, Shun's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1973Boys' names starting with S