How Many People Are Named Shanell?
An estimated 4,480 people in the United States have the first name Shanell. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 35 years old, and Shanell peaked in popularity in 1990 with 208 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Shanell as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Shanell paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
4,480
About 1 in 76,508 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
99.7% confidence
Average Age
35
years old
Peak Year
1990
208 births
Total Registered
4,714
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Shanell
Shanell is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 4,714 total births registered, 99.7% were female.
Shanell as a male name
Ranked #7,753 in 1989
6 male births in 1989
Peak: 1974 (6 births)
Shanell as a female name
Ranked #8,326 in 2024
13 female births in 2024
Peak: 1990 (208 births)
Shanell: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Shanell span from the 1960s to the 2020s, covering 7 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1980s, when 1,556 babies were registered. Shanell has declined significantly from its peak in the 1980s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Shanell by Decade
How has Shanell tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Shanell by State
Birth registrations for Shanell span all 27 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in New York, California, Florida. The lowest are in Arizona, Alabama, Oklahoma. On average, about 97 Shanells were registered per state.
Shanell + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Shanell as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Shanell
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
Shanell: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shanell?
We estimate approximately 4,480 people named Shanell are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 76,508 Americans share this first name.
Is Shanell a common name?
Shanell is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 96.3% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 4,714 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Shanell most popular?
Shanell reached peak popularity in 1990, when 208 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Shanell is approximately 35 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Shanell a female name?
Shanell is predominantly female. 99.7% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Shanell Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Shanell Smith, Shanell Johnson, Shanell Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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