Shanice is a 20th-century African American name derived from a creative blend of the *Sha-* prefix popular in 1970s-80s naming with *-nice* (resembling Janice / from the Hebrew *Yochanan*, "God is gracious"). **A top-300 US baby name from 1990 to 1996**. **Shanice Wilson (born 1973)** — **American singer; her 1991 hit "I Love Your Smile" reached #2 on the *Billboard* Hot 100, #1 on the R&B chart, and became one of the most-recognized R&B-pop crossover hits of the early 1990s**; *I Love Your Smile* album (1991) went platinum. **Inside Your Heart (1994)**; **"When I Close My Eyes" (1999)** — featuring her piano playing. **At age 11, Shanice was the youngest performer ever to record a McDonald's commercial jingle (1984)**. **Shanice McCall** — British singer. **Shanice Coley** — American model. **Shanice** parallels the rise of Latasha, Lakeisha, Tameka, and Tanisha in the 1980s-90s wave of distinctively African American girls' names. **Shaniqua** is the slightly more elaborated form of the same tradition. The name peaked in 1992 with the popularity of "I Love Your Smile" and has since become a vintage choice for revival, paralleling the late-2010s comeback of Aaliyah and Brandy.
Featured throughout early-1990s R&B.
Shanice reduces to five — the number of "I Love Your Smile."