Humanverse

Shaherah vs Shaun

American parents have registered 73,610 Shauns since 1880, against 24 Shaherahs. Shaun is still ahead, with 79 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Shaherah against Shaun, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Shaherah Shaun

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Shaun has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1935 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1979, when Shaherah had 19 and Shaun had 4,843.

Side by side

  Shaherah Shaun
Total US births 2473,610
Most in one year 196,221
Babies in 2025 under 579
Estimated living today 2068,000
Median age today 4643
Peak year 19791978
Best rank 3,903rd girls52nd boys
Rank in 2025 unranked1,942nd
First recorded 19791935
Girls / boys 24 / 03,129 / 70,481

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Shaherahs alive today are over 46; half the Shauns are over 43. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Shaherah and Shaun.