Explore the Family Name Shahan

The meaning of Shahan

1. Irish: variant of Sheehan. 2. Muslim (Indian subcontinent): from a personal name based on the Persian word shāhān ‘kings’, plural of Shah 2. Shāhān Shāh ‘King of Kings’ was a title used by royalty in Iran before the revolution of 1979.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Shahan in the United States?

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname 'Shahan' has seen a slight increase in the United States between 2000 and 2010. In terms of rankings, Shahan moved up from the 8,748th most popular surname in 2000 to the 8,704th in 2010, marking a modest 0.5% change. The actual count of individuals with the Shahan surname also increased by 9.08% over the decade, from 3,458 in 2000 to 3,772 in 2010. Meanwhile, the proportion of individuals with the Shahan surname per 100,000 people remained constant at 1.28.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#8,748	#8,704	0.5%
Count	3,458	3,772	9.08%
Proportion per 100k	1.28	1.28	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Shahan

The ethnic identity associated with the Shahan surname has also seen some changes between 2000 and 2010, based on the Decennial U.S. Census data. The White ethnicity decreased slightly by 2.58%, from 94.19% to 91.76%. On the other hand, there were significant increases in the representation of the Hispanic, and American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnicities, with growth rates of 96.06% and 92.31% respectively. The Asian/Pacific Islander ethnicity saw an increase of 22.44%, while individuals with two or more races and those identifying as Black experienced growth rates of 14.75% and 54.55% respectively.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.19%	91.76%	-2.58%
Two or More Races	2.17%	2.49%	14.75%
Hispanic	1.27%	2.49%	96.06%
Asian/Pacific Islander	1.56%	1.91%	22.44%
Black	0.55%	0.85%	54.55%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.26%	0.5%	92.31%