Shani
Feminine · “crimson”
Shani is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 4,525 girls against 17 boys since 1880.
Shani is the planet Saturn in India, and the deity of it, and the reason Saturday is Shanivar. He is the slowest of the planets and the strictest of the gods — the one who audits your conduct and delivers the consequences, which makes him feared and respected in roughly equal measure.
How old is the name Shani?
Shani first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Shani alive today was born around 1984, making them about 41 years old. About 4,400 people named Shani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shani most popular?
Shani peaked in 1969, reaching #664 nationally. Today it ranks #11932, 11,268 places below that high. See the whole 1969 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Shani
In Indian astrology the planets are gods with jobs, and Shani's is justice — he is said to give exactly what a person's actions have earned, which is why he is approached carefully. His day is Saturday, as in the Roman system, and the two traditions arrived at the same association independently. The Hebrew word is entirely different and entirely concrete: shani is the crimson dye used for the thread in the tabernacle hangings, and for the scarlet cord Rahab hangs from her window in Jericho. Modern Israeli parents use it as a name and hear the color. The Swahili is a third road again, and none of the three has anything to do with the others.
Meaningscholars disagree
crimson — or, in the other reading, Saturn
Hebrew shani is scarlet or crimson, the color of the dyed thread that appears repeatedly in Exodus and in the story of Rahab, and it is a common Israeli name. Sanskrit Shani is the planet Saturn and its deity. Swahili shani means something marvelous or unusual. Three languages, one spelling, no connection.
Pronouncing Shani
SHAH-nee
Two syllables, stress on the first, in Hebrew and Sanskrit alike. shuh-NEE, with the weight at the end, is also used in American families.
Nicknames for Shani
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 1970176 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #664reached in 1969
- Change vs 2024
- −61.1%7 in 2025, from 18
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Shani in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shani in Hebrew — same name
- Shani in Sanskrit — related form
- Shani in Swahili — related form
Shanis among us
people named Shani are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 229,610 born in 2025 was named Shani
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Carmelita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shani's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carmelita climbed just as high around 1930, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carmelita's path sketches the road Shani is walking now.
Shani sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Shani beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shani in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Three unrelated traditions use it, so it belongs comfortably in several kinds of household.
- Five letters and two syllables, with nothing hard in either.
- Two of its three meanings are concrete and easy to explain.
- The stress is said two ways and the spelling settles neither.
- In India it is a man's name and a planet, which matters in South Asian company.
- The few boys given this spelling in America will be read as girls on paper.
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What they receive
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Shani
Feminine · #11932 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shanis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,400 people named Shani are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shani in 2025?
- Shani ranks #11932 among US girl names in 2025, with 7 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shani?
- About 1 in every 229,610 US girls born in 2025 was named Shani — 7 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shani with classmates?
- Shani will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shani
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Vina#11932 · Retta#11932 · Missouri#11932 · Iola#11932 · Eddie#11932 · Thomas#11932 · Louetta#11932 · Elvina#11932
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shani? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shani and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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