Shep

Popularity Trends

The name Shep is the #7,555 most popular name of all time in the U.S. on a gender-neutral basis, with a total of 184 recorded births since 1884. This represents the 2.4% percentile of name popularity (more popular than 2.4% of all names). For boys, it ranks #4,402 (4.0% percentile) for all time with 184 births since 1884.

Shep first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1884 (first recorded for boys in 1884). Birth data for Shep is available in 16 out of the 140 years between 1884 and 2023. The Social Security Administration only reports birth data for years in which the name was given to at least five children of the same gender.

For boys, Shep reached its peak popularity in 2023, achieving the 2.7% percentile (ranked #886) with 16 births per million. The name was most common in 1884, with 49 births per million (ranked 0.5% percentile). Since reaching a low point around 2015, the popularity of this name for boys has been increasing. Currently, Shep ranks #886 for boys (2.7% percentile) with 16 births per million, which is 33.5% of its peak share of births.

This chart shows the total number of births per million babies in each year for the name "Shep".

1884 2023 18842023

Key Statistics

Total Births

184

Peak Births

Peak Year

2023

First Recorded

1884

Peak Percentile

2.7%

Current Percentile

2.7%

Peak Rank

#886

Current Rank

#886

Male statistics

Names with Similar Spellings

These similar-looking names have spellings that are closest to the spelling of "Shep", in the sense that there are the fewest number of letter differences between the two spellings. These names exclude other spelling variations of this name. View all variations of Shep.

Names with Correlated Trends

These 12 names have popularity trends that correlate most strongly with the name Shep's popularity from 1884 to 2023 on a gender-neutral basis. Names may rise and fall in popularity for a variety of reasons, but correlations often reflect either changes in naming fashion or demographic shifts.

The correlation calculations in the table below ignore absolute popularity to show you names that move in similar directions as the name Shep at the same time. They also correct for changes in the overall birth rate over time. The 0-100% trend values are calculated by dividing each name's gender-neutral births per million by the peak births per million for that name.

The 12 names most strongly correlated to Shep range from Daisye at 85.5% correlation to Ebenezer at 72.7% correlation, with an average correlation level of 80.6%. The most popular of these 12 most correlated names is Ebenezer with 1.1K births (97% boys) and the least popular is Daisye with 10 births (100% girls).

Shep's share of births peaked at 48.9 births per million for boys in 2023. It reached its lowest point of 2.4 births per million (5% of peak) in 2014.

This chart shows how each name's popularity has changed over time relative to its peak (100%).

85.47% (very strong)

85.24% (very strong)

84.51% (very strong)

84.35% (very strong)

83.01% (very strong)

276

82.49% (very strong)

Gunder

82.19% (very strong)

Olivine

196

79.71% (strong)

Damie

78.27% (strong)

Bowman

910

76.38% (strong)

Jabe

242

73.36% (strong)

Ebenezer

1,146

72.65% (strong)

About this table: Correlation values are shown as percentages from 0% to 100%, with each value accompanied by its strength (very weak to very strong). Higher percentages and stronger correlations indicate names that rise and fall together more closely in popularity. The strength labels are color-coded from gray (very weak) to green (very strong). The Trend column visualizes how each name's popularity has changed over time relative to its peak. Absolute correlation values are shown for simplicity (all correlations here are positive). The Total Births column is color-coded by gender distribution - blue shades for predominantly male names and red shades for predominantly female names, with purple hues indicating a more balanced gender distribution.

How to Pronounce Shep

Our model found one way to pronounce the name Shep. Click the play button under each pronunciation to hear it spoken aloud.

Our model is 100.0% confident that Shep is pronounced as shehp, which has 1 syllables.

shehp

100.0%

shehp (1 syllable)

Verified

100.0% confidence

SH EH1 P

Possible Additional Pronunciations

If none of the pronunciations above sound right to you, could you please check whether any of these related pronunciations should be applied to the name Shep? These are pronunciations that other similar names use, but which are not currently associated with Shep. If you think any of these are valid pronunciations for Shep, please vote using the thumbs up button.

About Pronunciation Data

Our confidence scores estimate the likelihood that a particular pronunciation is the most correct for a given name spelling. These scores are derived from pronunciation dictionaries, manual verification, your feedback, and a fine-tuned large language model trained to generate name pronunciations.

For any given spelling, confidence scores across all identified pronunciations sum to 100%. However, these scores don't account for the possibility of valid pronunciations that our model hasn't identified.

The raw pronunciations shown (like SH EH1 P) use the ARPAbet phoneme system, a standardized way to represent English speech sounds. Each symbol represents a distinct sound in American English. Visit the ARPAbet Wikipedia page to learn more about these phonetic symbols.

Pronunciation audio is generated by an open source text to speech model that has been customized to adhere to pronunciations provided in ARPAbet format, but sometimes pronunciations that differ subtly will sound identical, particularly if the only difference is the level of emphasis on a syllable or a single vowel sound.

Made with ❤️ by Aaron J Becker

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