Humanverse

Shadrick vs Shannon

American parents have registered 348,161 Shannons since 1880, against 540 Shadricks. Shannon is still ahead, with 116 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Shadrick against Shannon, 1880 to 2025 0 5k 10k 15k 20k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Shadrick Shannon

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

Shannon has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1881 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1933, when Shadrick had 5 and Shannon had 63.

Side by side

  Shadrick Shannon
Total US births 540348,161
Most in one year 3116,118
Babies in 2025 under 5116
Estimated living today 500326,000
Median age today 4347
Peak year 19761970
Best rank 1,677th boys22nd girls
Rank in 2025 unranked2,387th
First recorded 19331881
Girls / boys 0 / 540295,782 / 52,379

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 Shannons alive today are over 47; half the Shadricks are over 43. That is 4 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: Shadrick and Shannon.