Shay
#1,225 for girls in 2025, 184 births · #1,976 for boys in 2025, 77 births
Given to girls 62.1% of the time
- Peak · girls
- 1971 · 149 births
- Debut · girls
- 7 births
- In top 100 · girls
- neverof 146 years
- Total births · girls
- 8,227since 1953
Shay over time
Rank within each sex, plotted together. Click any year to open it.
Gaps mean fewer than 5 babies received the name that year, so the SSA doesn't publish it.
Show data table
| Year | girls | boys | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| rank | births | rank | births | |
| 2025 | #1,225 | 184 | #1,976 | 77 |
| 2024 | #1,156 | 208 | #1,701 | 98 |
| 2023 | #996 | 255 | #1,787 | 90 |
| 2022 | #910 | 301 | #1,678 | 102 |
| 2021 | #901 | 300 | #1,583 | 109 |
| 2020 | #932 | 277 | #1,758 | 87 |
| 2019 | #1,180 | 199 | #1,974 | 74 |
| 2018 | #1,338 | 168 | #1,762 | 87 |
| 2017 | #1,303 | 180 | #1,977 | 72 |
| 2016 | #1,371 | 171 | #1,754 | 88 |
| 2015 | #1,372 | 172 | #2,189 | 62 |
| 2014 | #1,519 | 144 | #2,402 | 53 |
| 2013 | #1,775 | 115 | #2,364 | 53 |
| 2012 | #2,232 | 84 | #2,172 | 61 |
| 2011 | #1,943 | 102 | #1,849 | 76 |
| 2010 | #1,818 | 112 | #2,010 | 68 |
| 2009 | #1,914 | 109 | #1,762 | 86 |
| 2008 | #1,554 | 148 | #1,916 | 75 |
| 2007 | #1,713 | 127 | #1,713 | 88 |
| 2006 | #1,709 | 122 | #1,583 | 92 |
| 2005 | #1,631 | 123 | #1,554 | 90 |
| 2004 | #1,448 | 141 | #1,477 | 92 |
| 2003 | #1,486 | 131 | #1,348 | 101 |
| 2002 | #1,376 | 140 | #1,609 | 75 |
| 2001 | #1,499 | 125 | #1,816 | 61 |
| 2000 | #1,245 | 157 | #1,361 | 93 |
| 1999 | #1,164 | 167 | #1,395 | 84 |
| 1998 | #1,228 | 148 | #1,322 | 90 |
| 1997 | #1,169 | 157 | #1,182 | 101 |
| 1996 | #1,149 | 158 | #1,049 | 116 |
| 1995 | #1,100 | 161 | #978 | 129 |
| 1994 | #1,137 | 157 | #968 | 130 |
| 1993 | #1,318 | 127 | #1,029 | 115 |
| 1992 | #1,305 | 129 | #1,049 | 109 |
| 1991 | #1,375 | 117 | #833 | 154 |
| 1990 | #1,272 | 128 | #960 | 118 |
| 1989 | #1,267 | 124 | #916 | 123 |
| 1988 | #1,345 | 106 | #840 | 128 |
| 1987 | #1,240 | 114 | #914 | 106 |
| 1986 | #1,392 | 92 | #1,188 | 64 |
| 1985 | #1,382 | 93 | #1,083 | 73 |
| 1984 | #1,284 | 97 | #1,096 | 67 |
| 1983 | #1,311 | 92 | #1,205 | 57 |
| 1982 | #1,284 | 99 | #1,164 | 62 |
| 1981 | #1,155 | 116 | #1,024 | 79 |
| 1980 | #1,059 | 134 | #963 | 87 |
| 1979 | #1,377 | 89 | #952 | 86 |
| 1978 | #1,176 | 107 | #1,034 | 71 |
| 1977 | #1,621 | 65 | #975 | 77 |
| 1976 | #1,297 | 84 | #977 | 72 |
| 1975 | #1,175 | 98 | #953 | 74 |
| 1974 | #950 | 130 | #919 | 78 |
| 1973 | #1,015 | 115 | #898 | 79 |
| 1972 | #1,012 | 116 | #1,000 | 65 |
| 1971 | #889 | 149 | #1,101 | 55 |
| 1970 | #953 | 133 | #968 | 69 |
| 1969 | #1,648 | 53 | #1,280 | 38 |
| 1968 | #2,056 | 34 | #1,366 | 32 |
| 1967 | #2,272 | 28 | #2,470 | 11 |
| 1966 | #2,586 | 22 | #1,814 | 18 |
| 1965 | #2,031 | 33 | #2,982 | 8 |
| 1964 | #3,000 | 18 | #2,205 | 14 |
| 1963 | #2,306 | 27 | #2,200 | 14 |
| 1962 | #2,210 | 29 | #2,279 | 13 |
| 1961 | #2,752 | 20 | #2,070 | 16 |
| 1960 | #3,920 | 11 | #2,423 | 12 |
| 1959 | #4,300 | 9 | #3,988 | 5 |
| 1958 | #4,890 | 7 | — | |
| 1957 | #3,033 | 15 | #3,993 | 5 |
| 1956 | #5,325 | 6 | — | |
| 1955 | #5,828 | 5 | — | |
| 1954 | #5,148 | 6 | #3,827 | 5 |
| 1953 | #4,595 | 7 | — | |
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| 1932 | — | #3,776 | 5 | |
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The first year at least five girls were named Shay! It came in at #4,595, and was given to 7 baby girls.
Quietest stretch: 1953–1956, when fewer than 8 girls a year got the name.
See more about Shay
- 69 spots since 2024 (#1,156 → #1,225)
- 293 spots since 2020 (#932 → #1,225)
- 147 spots since 2015 (#1,372 → #1,225)
- Biggest jump: 695 spots in 1970 (#1,648 → #953)
- Biggest drop: 225 spots in 1975 (#950 → #1,175)
- Debuted 1953
- Peaked 1971 at #889 (149 births)
- Births halved by 1977, 6 yrs later
- Top 10: never
- Top 100: never
- Top 1,000: 7 yrs · run 2020–2023
- Highest: 1 in 5,449 girls born in 2022 were named Shay (0.02%)
- Latest: 1 in 8,735 girls born in 2025 (0.01%)
- Its best rank, #889 in 1971, was only 1 in 11,167 (0.01%) — a smaller share of a much bigger birth year
- 18.5% of all girls named Shay (1,525) were born in this decade
- Mostly boys until 1991, mostly girls since
Show by decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank | Avg rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 55 | #3,033 (1957) | #4,731 |
| 1960s | 275 | #1,648 (1969) | #2,478 |
| 1970s | 1,086 | #889 (1971) | #1,147 |
| 1980s | 1,067 | #1,059 (1980) | #1,272 |
| 1990s | 1,449 | #1,100 (1995) | #1,222 |
| 2000s | 1,323 | #1,245 (2000) | #1,558 |
| 2010s | 1,447 | #1,180 (2019) | #1,585 |
| 2020s | 1,525 | #901 (2021) | #1,020 |
All figures count published births only (names given to at least 5 girls in a year). Registrations before 1937 are incomplete, so early shares and totals run low.
Shay in 2016
Top girls' names in 2016
Top boys' names in 2016
More about 2016
girls
1,772,022 girls got a published name in 2016; 1 in 10,363 of them was named Shay, which outranked 92.7% of the 18,885 girls' names that year. The ten most popular names covered 8.3% of girls (24.6% in 1880, 7.0% in 2025).
- #1,368Haleigh172
- #1,368Hillary172
- #1,368Yaretzy172
- #1,371Shay171
- #1,371Araya171
- #1,371Carley171
- #1,371Dariana171
- #1,380Gretchen170
- #1,380Miyah170
- #1,380Raleigh170
Tied with 8 names at #1,371; 3 shown. Tied names share a rank, as in SSA's lists.
Among names in the top 1,000 of either year.
boys
1,897,738 boys got a published name in 2016; 1 in 21,565 of them was named Shay, which outranked 87.7% of the 14,207 boys' names that year. The ten most popular names covered 8.2% of boys (44.2% in 1880, 8.0% in 2025).
- #1,739Raleigh89
- #1,739Storm89
- #1,739Wren89
- #1,754Shay88
- #1,754Ajay88
- #1,754Avian88
- #1,754Denis88
- #1,763Ames87
- #1,763Anay87
- #1,763Darion87
Tied with 8 names at #1,754; 3 shown. Tied names share a rank, as in SSA's lists.
Among names in the top 1,000 of either year.