Shekinah
Feminine · “Dwelling”
Shekhinah is not a person in the Hebrew Bible but a word rabbinic Judaism made for something the text describes without naming: the dwelling presence of God, the thing that filled the tabernacle. It is a theological term used as a name.
How old is the name Shekinah?
Shekinah first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Shekinah alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 2,100 people named Shekinah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shekinah most popular?
Shekinah peaked in 2000, reaching #1617 nationally. Today it ranks #5554, 3,937 places below that high. See the whole 2000 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From šĕḵînāh to Shekinah
The story of Shekinah
The rabbis needed a word for what Exodus describes when the cloud fills the tabernacle and Moses cannot enter, and Shekhinah is what they made. Kabbalistic thought developed it further as the tenth sefirah and the feminine presence of God in the world, and the Sabbath is greeted as a bride on that understanding. As a personal name it is not Jewish practice — the word is too weighty — and its use as a given name comes instead from Christian and particularly Pentecostal and charismatic communities, where the term entered through preaching. American records show Shekinah from the 1980s and a peak in 2000, in African American and Latin American evangelical families.
Meaning
Dwelling, the divine presence
From Hebrew šĕḵînāh, a dwelling or settling, from šāḵan, to dwell — the same root as mishkan, the tabernacle. The word does not appear in the Hebrew Bible; it is a rabbinic term for the manifest presence of God in a place. The reading is settled. In Kabbalah the Shekhinah is understood as the feminine aspect of the divine, which is much of why the word became usable as a woman's name.
How the name formed
- šĕḵînāh
- Shekinah
Related forms: שְׁכִינָה · Shekiná
Pronouncing Shekinah
shuh-KY-nah
Three syllables, stress in the middle. Hebrew puts the weight at the back, sheh-khee-NAH, with a throat fricative English does not have.
Nicknames for Shekinah
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
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 2000109 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1617reached in 2000
- Change vs 2024
- +29.4%22 in 2025, from 17
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.
Shekinah in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- שְׁכִינָה in Hebrew — transliteration
- Shekiná in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, California.
Shekinahs among us
people named Shekinah are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 73,058 born in 2025 was named Shekinah
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 Darlyn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shekinah's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darlyn climbed just as high around 1946, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darlyn's path sketches the road Shekinah is walking now.
Shekinah 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
Shekinah beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shekinah in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and among the most substantial any name carries.
- Kina and Shay both work as short forms.
- The vowels are open and easy for any speaker.
- It is a term for the presence of God, which is a great deal to hand a child.
- Jewish practice does not use it as a personal name.
- Shekinah, Shekina and Shechinah are three transliterations in use.
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What they receive
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Shekinah
Feminine · #5554 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shekinahs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Shekinah are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shekinah in 2025?
- Shekinah ranks #5554 among US girl names in 2025, with 22 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shekinah?
- About 1 in every 73,058 US girls born in 2025 was named Shekinah — 22 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shekinah with classmates?
- Shekinah will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shekinah
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eda#5554 · Phebe#5554 · Felicia#5554 · Audie#5554 · Maryellen#5554 · Warren#5554 · Ruthann#5554 · Nettie#5554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shekinah? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shekinah and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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