Recorded 1968–2025 · United States
Shai was most popular in 2023, when 340 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,565 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,720, with 293 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 4,340 people named Shai.
Shai first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1968, which makes it about 57 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 58 of the 58 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 4,340 American births named Shai between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 4,283 are estimated to be alive today.
293 American babies were named Shai in 2025, ranking #1,720 that year.
Shai is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 311 births a year, against 76 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +311% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Shai is a unisex name — 43.1% of the 4,340 Americans given it were girls and 56.9% were boys. It changed hands: since 2007 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 34% girls and 66% 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.
Roughly 4,283 Americans named Shai are alive today — 99% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 10 years old, and half are between 4 and 25.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Shai on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org