How Many People Are Named Shaw?
An estimated 1,302 people in the United States have the first name Shaw. It is predominantly male (95.9%). The average bearer is 28 years old, and Shaw peaked in popularity in 2016 with 39 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Shaw 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 Shaw paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Shaw is overwhelmingly male, 56 female births have been registered with this name since 1880.
Estimated Living Americans
1,302
About 1 in 263,252 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Rare
Predicted Gender
Male
95.9% confidence
Average Age
28
years old
Peak Year
2016
39 births
Total Registered
1,371
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Shaw
Shaw is predominantly male (95.9%), though 56 female births have been registered. It functions as a unisex name for a small percentage of bearers.
Shaw as a male name
Ranked #4,289 in 2024
25 male births in 2024
Peak: 2020 (39 births)
Shaw as a female name
Ranked #17,262 in 2024
5 female births in 2024
Peak: 2014 (9 births)
Shaw: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Shaw span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 11 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 2010s, when 309 babies were registered. While Shaw is less common than at its peak in the 2010s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Shaw by Decade
How has Shaw 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.
Shaw by State
Shaw + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaw as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Shaw
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
Shaw: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaw?
We estimate approximately 1,302 people named Shaw 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 263,252 Americans share this first name.
Is Shaw a common name?
Shaw is classified as "Rare" and is more popular than 91.7% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 1,371 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Shaw most popular?
Shaw reached peak popularity in 2016, when 39 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Shaw is approximately 28 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Shaw a male name?
Shaw is predominantly male. 95.9% of people with this name are male. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Shaw Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Shaw Smith, Shaw Johnson, Shaw 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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