How Many People Are Named Shay?
An estimated 12,501 people in the United States have the first name Shay. It is used for both genders, with 61.9% female. The average bearer is 27 years old, and Shay peaked in popularity in 2021 with 409 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Shay as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Shay paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- Shay is a genuinely unisex name, given to both boys and girls in roughly equal numbers.
Estimated Living Americans
12,501
About 1 in 27,418 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
61.9% confidence
Average Age
27
years old
Peak Year
2021
409 births
Total Registered
12,989
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Shay
Shay is a genuinely unisex name, used for both males (38.1%) and females (61.9%). Out of 12,989 total births registered, 4,947 were male and 8,042 were female.
Shay as a male name
Ranked #1,701 in 2024
98 male births in 2024
Peak: 1991 (154 births)
Shay as a female name
Ranked #1,158 in 2024
208 female births in 2024
Peak: 2022 (301 births)
Shay: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Shay span from the 1930s to the 2020s, covering 9 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1990s, when 2,595 babies were registered. While Shay is less common than at its peak in the 1990s, it remains a well-established name with steady registrations.
Shay by Decade
How has Shay tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Shay by State
Birth registrations for Shay span all 37 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in California, Texas, New York. The lowest are in Tennessee, Nebraska, Alabama. On average, about 170 Shays were registered per state.
Shay + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Shay as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Shay
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
Shay: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shay?
We estimate approximately 12,501 people named Shay are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 27,418 Americans share this first name.
Is Shay a common name?
Shay is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 12,989 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Shay most popular?
Shay reached peak popularity in 2021, when 409 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Shay is approximately 27 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Shay a female name?
Shay is predominantly female. 61.9% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Shay Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Shay Smith, Shay Johnson, Shay Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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