Humanverse

Shannon vs Sharene

American parents have registered 348,161 Shannons since 1880, against 551 Sharenes. Shannon is still ahead, with 116 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

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

Shannon Sharene

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 1951, when Shannon had 483 and Sharene had 19.

Side by side

  Shannon Sharene
Total US births 348,161551
Most in one year 16,11824
Babies in 2025 116under 5
Estimated living today 326,000490
Median age today 4755
Peak year 19701969
Best rank 22nd girls2,704th girls
Rank in 2025 2,387thunranked
First recorded 18811944
Girls / boys 295,782 / 52,379551 / 0

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 Sharenes alive today are over 55; half the Shannons are over 47. That is 8 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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