How rare is the name Shanell?

3,723 people in the United States have the first name Shanell, about 1 in 81,126. It ranks #4,840 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census, tied with 1 other.

first name

SHANELL

#4,840

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
3,723
About
1 in 81,126
This common or more
84.6%
Who bears it

Of the 3,723 people named Shanell, 69.5% reported their origin as Black, 12.8% as White and 10% as Hispanic or Latino. 99.1% are female. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Shanell peaked in 1990, when 208 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19642025
Peak year
1990
Births that year
208
In 2025*
5 ▼98%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 4,719 babies have been given the name since 1964. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Shanell by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1980s, when it ranked #1,682. The largest share of babies named Shanell, 51.7%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1960s#6,441101
1970s#2,213804
1980s#1,6821,556
1990s#2,3571,223
2000s#4,885576
2010s#6,757382
2020s#13,80377
Baby boom 1946–640.3%
Generation X 1965–8021.7%
Millennials 1981–9651.7%
Generation Z 1997–1219.8%
2013 and later6.6%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Shanell is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Shanell has been most common in Maryland (4.3×), Louisiana (2.9×), and New York (2.8×), and least common in North Carolina (0.51×).

2,614 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Exactly as common as Shanell

1 other first name also has 3,723 people.

#4,840 Amilcar · 3,723

Either side of Shanell

#4,837 Cornelio · 3,724#4,840 Amilcar · 3,723#4,842 Carrington · 3,721#4,842 Nadezhda · 3,721

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Shanell, most common first.

#4,680 Shanelle · 3,898#6,821 Shanel · 2,308#12,025 Shannel · 1,048#13,331 Shamel · 909#18,633 Shenell · 577#20,499 Shenelle · 504#21,545 Shannell · 470#29,625 Shawnell · 298

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