How common is the name Shawn?

279,685 people in the United States have the first name Shawn, about 1 in 1,080. It ranks #191 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

SHAWN

#191

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
279,685
About
1 in 1,080
This common or more
40.8%
Who bears it

Of the 279,685 people named Shawn, 75.5% reported their origin as White, 13.2% as Black and 4.1% as two or more races. 90.5% are male. These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Shawn peaked in 1971, when 14,688 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19312025
Peak year
1971
Births that year
14,688
In 2025*
412 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 339,597 babies have been given the name since 1931. 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.

Shawn by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1970s, when it ranked #50. The largest share of babies named Shawn, 48.8%, were born between 1965 and 1980, Generation X's birth years.

1930s#5,86964
1940s#1,673720
1950s#47510,456
1960s#12660,882
1970s#50117,152
1980s#10268,302
1990s#17243,546
2000s#30224,543
2010s#61310,819
2020s#1,1333,113
Silent Generation 1928–450.1%
Baby boom 1946–649.2%
Generation X 1965–8048.8%
Millennials 1981–9627.6%
Generation Z 1997–1211.4%
2013 and later2.8%

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 Shawn is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Shawn has been most common in Alaska (2×), Vermont (1.9×), and Montana (1.9×), and least common in Mississippi (0.44×).

335,561 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.

Either side of Shawn

#189 Cameron · 280,514#190 Helen · 280,357#192 Theresa · 278,873#193 Tammy · 277,310

Spelled almost the same

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

#773 Shaun · 64,418#1,055 Shawna · 39,653#3,420 Shan · 6,106#7,167 Shaan · 2,150#11,056 Shain · 1,177#12,211 Shawne · 1,026#18,452 Shann · 584#20,543 Shayn · 502

Also a last name

As a last name, Shawn ranks #26,440 of 156,621, with 972 people. See Shawn as a last name

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