Shea
Shea is given to both girls and boys: 201 girls and 111 boys were given it in 2025 (#1,159 among girls’ names and #1,552 among boys’, #1,645 among all names counting both); 21,102 Americans have been recorded with it since 1950 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Girls have outnumbered boys among babies named Shea every year since 1988.
An estimated 20,500 Americans named Shea and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 27 years old and half are between 16 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shea by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shea mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shea is “a unisex given name transferred from the surname.”
Anglicised from Irish Ó Séaghdha.
/ʃeɪ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shea?
#1,159 among girls’ names, 2025
Shea rose from #1,278 in 2015 to #1,159 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 0.11 to 0.13 per 1,000.
531 babies in 2005, the peak
Shea peaked in 2005, when 531 babies were given it (348 girls, #764 among girls’ names). The 312 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 59% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 201 | #1,159 | 111 | #1,552 |
| 2024 | 201 | #1,190 | 120 | #1,498 |
| 2023 | 247 | #1,030 | 144 | #1,325 |
| 2022 | 245 | #1,046 | 124 | #1,465 |
| 2021 | 242 | #1,044 | 138 | #1,347 |
| 2020 | 207 | #1,148 | 112 | #1,510 |
| 2019 | 205 | #1,167 | 124 | #1,418 |
| 2018 | 195 | #1,213 | 117 | #1,488 |
| 2017 | 184 | #1,286 | 127 | #1,392 |
| 2016 | 234 | #1,101 | 102 | #1,602 |
Every recorded year (75)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 191 | #1,278 | 100 | #1,611 |
| 2014 | 206 | #1,192 | 106 | #1,524 |
| 2013 | 197 | #1,226 | 105 | #1,535 |
| 2012 | 171 | #1,373 | 127 | #1,345 |
| 2011 | 172 | #1,347 | 148 | #1,197 |
| 2010 | 199 | #1,220 | 123 | #1,374 |
| 2009 | 252 | #1,034 | 159 | #1,151 |
| 2008 | 278 | #967 | 133 | #1,315 |
| 2007 | 293 | #925 | 167 | #1,095 |
| 2006 | 296 | #898 | 189 | #984 |
| 2005 | 348 | #764 | 183 | #956 |
| 2004 | 329 | #785 | 195 | #893 |
| 2003 | 318 | #778 | 205 | #846 |
| 2002 | 294 | #799 | 221 | #782 |
| 2001 | 327 | #734 | 187 | #861 |
| 2000 | 321 | #725 | 163 | #936 |
| 1999 | 281 | #784 | 152 | #953 |
| 1998 | 315 | #703 | 137 | #1,001 |
| 1997 | 309 | #698 | 180 | #813 |
| 1996 | 286 | #737 | 155 | #881 |
| 1995 | 260 | #773 | 187 | #781 |
| 1994 | 287 | #727 | 197 | #748 |
| 1993 | 243 | #820 | 170 | #809 |
| 1992 | 272 | #764 | 178 | #786 |
| 1991 | 266 | #775 | 181 | #756 |
| 1990 | 228 | #862 | 221 | #681 |
| 1989 | 231 | #822 | 218 | #674 |
| 1988 | 253 | #744 | 245 | #601 |
| 1987 | 229 | #776 | 261 | #562 |
| 1986 | 206 | #818 | 280 | #530 |
| 1985 | 193 | #844 | 234 | #573 |
| 1984 | 179 | #857 | 257 | #538 |
| 1983 | 119 | #1,129 | 106 | #854 |
| 1982 | 132 | #1,081 | 108 | #860 |
| 1981 | 136 | #1,054 | 105 | #869 |
| 1980 | 154 | #963 | 115 | #822 |
| 1979 | 151 | #963 | 95 | #900 |
| 1978 | 130 | #1,047 | 102 | #852 |
| 1977 | 118 | #1,101 | 93 | #879 |
| 1976 | 112 | #1,091 | 103 | #827 |
| 1975 | 118 | #1,025 | 110 | #794 |
| 1974 | 155 | #851 | 102 | #795 |
| 1973 | 127 | #954 | 92 | #833 |
| 1972 | 125 | #970 | 70 | #974 |
| 1971 | 127 | #994 | 64 | #1,024 |
| 1970 | 114 | #1,073 | 71 | #958 |
| 1969 | 79 | #1,265 | 45 | #1,183 |
| 1968 | 42 | #1,849 | 44 | #1,144 |
| 1967 | 43 | #1,779 | 23 | #1,644 |
| 1966 | 36 | #1,947 | 15 | #2,119 |
| 1965 | 21 | #2,734 | 14 | #2,253 |
| 1964 | 25 | #2,521 | 9 | #3,017 |
| 1963 | 9 | #4,845 | 11 | #2,648 |
| 1962 | 11 | #4,229 | 11 | #2,653 |
| 1961 | 13 | #3,763 | 11 | #2,683 |
| 1960 | 13 | #3,657 | 10 | #2,842 |
| 1959 | 11 | #3,994 | 13 | #2,395 |
| 1958 | 8 | #4,837 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 9 | #4,493 | 7 | #3,512 |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,773 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 8 | #4,679 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | under 5 | 5 | #4,292 | |
| 1953 | 6 | #5,571 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 7 | #4,755 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,672 | 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 Shea a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 21,102 Americans recorded as Shea, 60% are girls and 40% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shea: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shea, and how old are they?
20,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 21,102 Americans ever recorded as Shea. The median Shea alive today is 27 years old; half are between 16 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 18,210 people named Shea (11,079 women and girls, 7,131 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 18,633 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 170 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,590 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,380 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 7,080 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,260 |
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 Shea born?
The states with the most babies named Shea are New York, Massachusetts and New Jersey, with 52% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Massachusetts and New Jersey are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 61 | #544 | 1.3× |
| Massachusetts | 29 | #283 | 1.8× |
| New Jersey | 28 | #529 | 1.2× |
| California | 27 | #1,473 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 22 | #683 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 13 | #744 | 0.8× |
| Florida | 10 | #1,422 | 0.8× |
| Connecticut | 7 | #447 | 1.1× |
| Colorado | 6 | #895 | 1.1× |
| Maryland | 6 | #826 | 0.2× |
Where Shea is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shea is most over-represented in Massachusetts: since 1950 it was given 1.8 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 Shea with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Shea
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 Shea and names like it
- Compare Shea and ArinBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sShea peaked in 2005.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shea since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Shea: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2005The year the most babies were named Shea.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Shea alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.