# Shen (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/shen/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 12,839 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,806 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 24,047 people |
| Change since 2000 | +45% (8,832 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɛn/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As a Chinese surname of multiple origins: ** Mandarin form of 沈 ** Mandarin form of 申 (shēn) ** Mandarin form of 慎 (shèn) ** Mandarin form of 莘 (see Xin) ** Variant Romanization of 孫 /孙, see Sun. ** Variant Romanization of 陳 /陈 (chén), also another Mandarin form of 諶 /谌, see Chen. * As a European surname of multiple origins: ** Variant form of Dutch Schoen, from schoen (“shoe”) ** Variant form of German Schoen, from schön (“beautiful, nice”) * As a river and former Chinese prefecture, from the Wade–Giles and Hanyu Pinyin romanizations of the Mandarin pronunciation of Chinese 深 (Shēn).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shen in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 3.5% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 0.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 0.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 94% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.1% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shen in the United States.

## People named Shen

- Freda Foh Shen, American actress

## Similar surnames

Shin, Shinn, Shane, Shine, Shain, Sheen, Shan, Shenoy, Shon, Schoen, Sena, Senn.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.