Shantay
Shantay was last recorded in 2011, when 5 babies were given it; 1,271 Americans have been recorded with it between 1961 and 2011 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,220 Americans named Shantay and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 41 years old and half are between 36 and 48.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shantay by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shantay?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #19,125, in 2011; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
72 babies in 1987, the peak
Shantay peaked in 1987, when 72 girls were given it, #1,695 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 5 | #19,125 | 2.8 |
| 2008 | 5 | #20,004 | 2.6 |
| 2007 | 8 | #13,728 | 4.2 |
| 2006 | 9 | #12,266 | 4.7 |
| 2005 | 10 | #10,793 | 5.4 |
| 2004 | 10 | #10,556 | 5.4 |
| 2003 | 18 | #6,529 | 9.9 |
| 2002 | 8 | #12,007 | 4.5 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,109 | 7.2 |
| 2000 | 12 | #8,454 | 6.6 |
Every recorded year (48)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 12 | #8,139 | 6.8 |
| 1998 | 14 | #7,039 | 7.9 |
| 1997 | 14 | #6,776 | 8.0 |
| 1996 | 23 | #4,556 | 13.1 |
| 1995 | 10 | #8,634 | 5.7 |
| 1994 | 28 | #3,873 | 15.7 |
| 1993 | 27 | #3,968 | 14.9 |
| 1992 | 36 | #3,196 | 19.5 |
| 1991 | 48 | #2,579 | 25.6 |
| 1990 | 35 | #3,209 | 18.4 |
| 1989 | 45 | #2,561 | 24.4 |
| 1988 | 54 | #2,144 | 30.3 |
| 1987 | 72 | #1,695 | 41.4 |
| 1986 | 51 | #2,105 | 29.7 |
| 1985 | 60 | #1,876 | 34.9 |
| 1984 | 41 | #2,371 | 24.3 |
| 1983 | 55 | #1,901 | 32.9 |
| 1982 | 48 | #2,144 | 28.3 |
| 1981 | 45 | #2,255 | 27.0 |
| 1980 | 57 | #1,902 | 34.3 |
| 1979 | 45 | #2,211 | 28.0 |
| 1978 | 68 | #1,593 | 44.4 |
| 1977 | 47 | #2,056 | 30.7 |
| 1976 | 31 | #2,593 | 21.2 |
| 1975 | 32 | #2,501 | 21.9 |
| 1974 | 28 | #2,671 | 19.1 |
| 1973 | 19 | #3,448 | 13.0 |
| 1972 | 31 | #2,386 | 20.4 |
| 1971 | 14 | #4,270 | 8.4 |
| 1970 | 11 | #5,005 | 6.3 |
| 1969 | 14 | #3,929 | 8.3 |
| 1968 | 8 | #5,551 | 4.9 |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,616 | 8.5 |
| 1966 | 6 | #6,437 | 3.5 |
| 1965 | 8 | #5,215 | 4.5 |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,447 | 2.6 |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,448 | 3.1 |
| 1961 | 11 | #4,192 | 5.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shantay a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shantay has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 48 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shantay: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shantay, and how old are they?
1,220 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,271 Americans ever recorded as Shantay. The median Shantay alive today is 41 years old; half are between 36 and 48.
The 2020 Census counted 1,049 people named Shantay (1,027 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,234 born in the U.S. The Census count is 15% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 19 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 407 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 658 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 136 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Shantay born?
The states with the most babies named Shantay are New York, New Jersey and California, with 64% of its births recorded by state since 1910; New Jersey is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 100 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 39 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| California | 23 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Florida | 20 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 18 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 13 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| South Carolina | 10 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Texas | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 6 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Georgia | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Shantay is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shantay is most over-represented in New York: since 1961 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Shantay with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 21,937 babies since 1880, Shantay is the sixth most given (5.8% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Shantay
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Shantay and names like it
- Compare Shantay and ShanteBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sShantay peaked in 1987.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shantay since 1910.
- The top names of 1987The year the most babies were named Shantay.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shantay alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.