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The surname Shen

A surname, carried by 12,839 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈʃɛn/ 1 syllable Soundex S500

Shen: #2,806 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Shen #2,806, 12,839 people Shen: #2,806 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Shen #2,806, 12,839 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Shen is more common than 98.3% of them.

Origin

* 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).

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 12,839 people named Shen in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 24,047 Americans. That is up 45% since 2000, when the Census counted 8,832.

#2,806
rank among US surnames
12,839
people in 2010
4.3
per 100,000 Americans
+45.4%
change since 2000 (was #3,690)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#2,798Epperson12,88423,963
#2,799Aguayo12,87623,978
#2,800Beaty12,86923,991
#2,801Ricketts12,86224,004
#2,802Cheatham12,85224,023
#2,803Lusk12,84724,033
#2,804Mabry12,84624,034

Who is named Shen

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

94% of people named Shen identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, 3.5% as white (not Hispanic) and 1.7% as two or more races.

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

Compare: most common surnames among Asian and Pacific Islander Americans.

Famous Shens

1 notable person on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Freda Foh Shen
    American actress, born 1948

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Shen

Shen has the Soundex code S500, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S500.

Questions

Where does the surname Shen come from?
* 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…
How common is the surname Shen?
12,839 people in the United States had the surname Shen in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 24,047 Americans. It ranked 2,806th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Shen?
In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Shen identified as Asian and Pacific Islander, and 3.5% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Shen?
Freda Foh Shen, American actress.
Where is the surname Shen most common?
Wikidata records people named Shen in the United States.
How do you pronounce Shen?
Shen is /ˈʃɛn/, one syllable.
Is the surname Shen getting more or less common?
More common. 8,832 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 12,839 in 2010, up 45%.