Shawana
Feminine
Two letters separate this name from the name of a nation, and the two have nothing to do with each other. Shawnee is a people; Shawana is an American construction built from a prefix and an ending, and the resemblance is close enough to be assumed and wrong.
How old is the name Shawana?
Shawana first appears in US birth records in 1956 — 69 years ago. The typical Shawana alive today was born around 1979, making them about 46 years old. About 1,800 people named Shawana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shawana most popular?
Shawana peaked in 1977, reaching #1052 nationally. See the whole 1977 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Shawana to Shawana
The story of Shawana
These prefixes attach to women's names far more readily than to men's, and nobody has fully explained why. The La-, Sha-, De- and Ta- fronts all appear on men's names — Deshawn, Latrell, Demarcus are common enough — but the great majority of names built this way are women's, by a margin of several to one across the whole record. One explanation is that women's naming has always been freer in English-speaking countries, with less pressure to repeat a father's or grandfather's name; another is that the endings these prefixes pair with are themselves read as feminine. Both are probably true and neither is the whole answer.
Meaningnot established
Not established
A meaningless prefix and a syllable shape. The similar-looking nation's name is from a different language family entirely and is not the source; asserting otherwise would be borrowing somebody else's history.
How the name formed
- Shawana
- Shawanna
Pronouncing Shawana
shuh-WAH-nuh
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. The prefix is unstressed and reduces almost to nothing.
Nicknames for Shawana
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
- 1956
- Most girls named
- 1977125 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1052reached in 1977
- Change vs 1998
- +57.1%11 in 2000, from 7
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.
Shawanas among us
people named Shawana are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Shawana sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The rhythm is even and every sound in it is open and easy.
- The spelling follows the sound exactly with nothing to explain.
- Shay sits inside it as a short form that needs no introduction.
- It sits two letters from a nation's name and will be assumed to be related.
- There is no inherited meaning, whatever other pages claim.
- It is closely tied to the decades of its use.
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Shawana
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shawanas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Shawana are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shawana in 2025?
- Shawana is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shawana with classmates?
- Shawana will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shawana? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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