Shaye
Shaye is given to both girls and boys: 9 girls and 10 boys were given it in 2025 (#10,786 among girls’ names and #8,141 among boys’, #10,907 among all names counting both); 2,862 Americans have been recorded with it since 1951 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,780 Americans named Shaye and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 28 years old and half are between 21 and 36.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shaye by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shaye mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shaye is “a female given name transferred from the surname or from Irish, variant of Shay.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shaye?
#10,786 among girls’ names, 2025
Shaye fell from #4,702 in 2015 to #10,786 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 16.8 to 5.6 per million.
152 babies in 1998, the peak
Shaye peaked in 1998, when 152 babies were given it (128 girls, #1,359 among girls’ names). The 19 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 13% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,786 | 10 | #8,141 |
| 2024 | 5 | #17,316 | 13 | #6,764 |
| 2023 | 14 | #7,992 | 9 | #8,808 |
| 2022 | 18 | #6,670 | 8 | #9,694 |
| 2021 | 12 | #8,901 | 7 | #10,607 |
| 2020 | 19 | #6,286 | 14 | #6,234 |
| 2019 | 10 | #10,367 | 10 | #8,114 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,484 | 10 | #8,061 |
| 2017 | 9 | #11,480 | 12 | #7,029 |
| 2016 | 22 | #5,956 | 5 | #13,884 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 30 | #4,702 | 14 | #6,256 |
| 2014 | 18 | #6,944 | 10 | #8,028 |
| 2013 | 31 | #4,631 | 5 | #13,745 |
| 2012 | 23 | #5,864 | 11 | #7,461 |
| 2011 | 28 | #5,043 | 9 | #8,648 |
| 2010 | 32 | #4,587 | 15 | #5,989 |
| 2009 | 39 | #4,004 | 21 | #4,716 |
| 2008 | 40 | #3,998 | 15 | #6,011 |
| 2007 | 36 | #4,281 | 16 | #5,634 |
| 2006 | 55 | #3,082 | 9 | #8,609 |
| 2005 | 50 | #3,160 | 11 | #7,021 |
| 2004 | 78 | #2,257 | 17 | #4,965 |
| 2003 | 63 | #2,569 | 20 | #4,249 |
| 2002 | 75 | #2,218 | 16 | #4,869 |
| 2001 | 85 | #2,004 | 20 | #4,088 |
| 2000 | 82 | #2,029 | 23 | #3,617 |
| 1999 | 84 | #1,887 | 23 | #3,461 |
| 1998 | 128 | #1,359 | 24 | #3,278 |
| 1997 | 94 | #1,677 | 26 | #2,964 |
| 1996 | 112 | #1,474 | 21 | #3,377 |
| 1995 | 58 | #2,302 | 23 | #3,079 |
| 1994 | 51 | #2,495 | 10 | #5,805 |
| 1993 | 50 | #2,520 | 17 | #3,786 |
| 1992 | 55 | #2,375 | 15 | #4,066 |
| 1991 | 58 | #2,260 | 15 | #3,973 |
| 1990 | 44 | #2,681 | 12 | #4,625 |
| 1989 | 44 | #2,600 | 24 | #2,675 |
| 1988 | 34 | #3,027 | 15 | #3,497 |
| 1987 | 30 | #3,153 | 11 | #4,190 |
| 1986 | 21 | #4,001 | 14 | #3,411 |
| 1985 | 28 | #3,227 | 5 | #7,417 |
| 1984 | 16 | #4,699 | 6 | #6,204 |
| 1983 | 18 | #4,254 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 16 | #4,687 | 8 | #4,930 |
| 1981 | 22 | #3,714 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 36 | #2,642 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 20 | #3,880 | 11 | #3,775 |
| 1978 | 24 | #3,262 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 21 | #3,588 | 8 | #4,516 |
| 1976 | 22 | #3,265 | 7 | #4,851 |
| 1975 | 18 | #3,745 | 6 | #5,354 |
| 1974 | 27 | #2,747 | 12 | #3,094 |
| 1973 | 21 | #3,216 | 7 | #4,431 |
| 1972 | 18 | #3,512 | 8 | #3,914 |
| 1971 | 16 | #3,914 | 6 | #4,828 |
| 1970 | 10 | #5,341 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 8 | #5,884 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 11 | #4,440 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 9 | #4,914 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 7 | #5,707 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,399 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,642 | 5 | #4,524 |
| 1963 | 5 | #7,459 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 6 | #6,452 | 5 | #4,538 |
| 1960 | 6 | #6,278 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,145 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,388 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 12 | #3,260 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Shaye a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,862 Americans recorded as Shaye, 76% are girls and 24% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shaye: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shaye, and how old are they?
2,780 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 2,862 Americans ever recorded as Shaye. The median Shaye alive today is 28 years old; half are between 21 and 36.
The 2020 Census counted 2,562 people named Shaye (2,047 women and girls, 515 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,675 born in the U.S. The Census count is 4% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 48 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 315 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 828 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 341 |
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 Shaye born?
The states with the most babies named Shaye are New York, California and Texas, with 70% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 168 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| California | 152 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Texas | 66 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 23 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| New Jersey | 23 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Arizona | 22 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Michigan | 15 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 12 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 11 | not ranked | 0.1× |
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 Shaye 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 6 names spelled alike, given to 24,741 babies since 1880, Shaye is the third most given (12% of them). In 2025 it was given to 19 of their 405 babies (4.7%), again the third most given.
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 Shaye
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 Shaye and names like it
- Compare Shaye and ShayBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sShaye peaked in 1998.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shaye since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Shaye: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Shaye.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Shaye alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.