Humanverse

Sharon vs Shawni

American parents have registered 726,130 Sharons since 1880, against 230 Shawnis. Sharon is still ahead, with 179 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Sharon against Shawni, 1880 to 2025 0 8k 16k 24k 32k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Sharon Shawni

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

Sharon has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1900 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1992, when Sharon had 956 and Shawni had 35.

Side by side

  Sharon Shawni
Total US births 726,130230
Most in one year 28,59035
Babies in 2025 179under 5
Estimated living today 545,000220
Median age today 6935
Peak year 19471992
Best rank 9th girls3,218th girls
Rank in 2025 1,250thunranked
First recorded 19001962
Girls / boys 723,024 / 3,106230 / 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 Sharons alive today are over 69; half the Shawnis are over 35. That is 34 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: Sharon and Shawni.