Is Shade a boy or girl name?

Shade is a unisex name. Of the 2,025 Americans recorded with the name since 1880, 42.9% were girls and 57.1% were boys. It changed hands in 2005, and has gone mainly to boys since.

Name Legacy

Shade

Recorded 1880–2025 · United States

Shade was most popular in 1993, when 88 American babies were given the name — ranking #2,824 that year. In 2025 it ranked #11,378, with 17 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,025 people named Shade.

Shade over time

Births per year. The dot marks Shade’s peak in 1993. Gaps are years the SSA suppressed, which it does for any name given to fewer than five babies.

Is Shade a boy’s or a girl’s name?

Across the whole record Shade is a unisex name — 42.9% of the 2,025 Americans given it were girls and 57.1% were boys. It changed hands: since 2005 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 14% girls and 86% boys.

Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.

Names that peaked alongside Shade

Where Shade is most concentrated

How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.

New York 6.2×

Explore further

See Shade on the interactive charts

Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org