Recorded 1932–2025 · United States
Shay was most popular in 2021, when 409 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,356 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,862, with 261 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 13,251 people named Shay.
Shay first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1932, which makes it about 93 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 74 of the 94 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 13,251 American births named Shay 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 12,855 are estimated to be alive today.
261 American babies were named Shay in 2025, ranking #1,862 that year.
Shay is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 345 births a year, against 184 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +87% 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 Shay is a unisex name — 62.1% of the 13,251 Americans given it were girls and 37.9% were boys. It changed hands: since 1992 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 72% girls and 28% 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 12,855 Americans named Shay are alive today — 97% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 27 years old, and half are between 11 and 40.
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 Shay on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org