Shonna
Feminine · “God has been gracious”
Shonna is Shauna with the Irish taken out. The name it comes from is the feminine of an Irish man's name and carries an au that marks it as such; replacing that with a plain o removes the last sign of where the name came from.
How old is the name Shonna?
Shonna first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Shonna alive today was born around 1975, making them about 50 years old. About 2,900 people named Shonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shonna most popular?
Shonna peaked in 1977, reaching #779 nationally. See the whole 1977 chart.
Where it comes from
From Sean to Shonna
The story of Shonna
English has three vowels available for this sound and uses all of them: au as in Shauna, aw as in Shawna, and a plain o as in Shonna. The first is closest to the Irish, the second is the fully anglicized version, and the third belongs to a different family altogether — the American names built on a Sh- opening, where the vowel that follows varies freely. Shonna sits in both camps at once. The doubled n keeps the vowel short, which is the one part of the spelling doing real work, and it separates the name from Shona, which is said with a long o and is also the name of a people and a language in Zimbabwe.
Meaningscholars disagree
God has been gracious
If the name descends from Shauna it carries John's meaning through Irish. If it was built independently from a productive front syllable, which some of them were, it carries nothing. The record does not distinguish.
How the name formed
- Sean
- Shauna
- Shonna
Pronouncing Shonna
SHON-uh
Two syllables with the weight at the front, the first with the vowel of on. Shona, with one n, has a long o and is a different word.
Nicknames for Shonna
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
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 1977194 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #779reached in 1977
- Change vs 2007
- 0.0%7 in 2010, 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.
Shonnas among us
people named Shonna 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
Shonna 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 doubled consonant removes a real ambiguity about the first vowel.
- Six letters, two syllables, and nothing that has to be explained.
- It sits comfortably in front of almost any surname.
- Shauna, Shawna, Shona and Shonna are four spellings of nearly one sound and all will be offered.
- Shona is also a language and a people in Zimbabwe, and the spellings are one letter apart.
- It reads clearly as a name of the second half of the twentieth century.
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Shonna
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shonnas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,900 people named Shonna are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shonna in 2025?
- Shonna is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shonna with classmates?
- Shonna 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 Shonna? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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