Shia
Shia is given to both girls and boys: 34 girls and 138 boys were given it in 2025 (#4,257 among girls’ names and #1,360 among boys’, #2,449 among all names counting both); 3,348 Americans have been recorded with it since 1960 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Boys have outnumbered girls among babies named Shia every year since 2009.
An estimated 3,320 Americans named Shia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 11 years old and half are between 5 and 17.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shia mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shia is “a male given name.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shia?
#1,360 among boys’ names, 2025
Shia rose from #1,997 in 2015 to #1,360 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 38.1 to 80.8 per million.
225 babies in 2024, the peak
Shia peaked in 2024, when 225 babies were given it (171 boys, #1,202 among boys’ names). The 172 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 76% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 34 | #4,257 | 138 | #1,360 |
| 2024 | 54 | #3,043 | 171 | #1,202 |
| 2023 | 48 | #3,377 | 159 | #1,236 |
| 2022 | 50 | #3,268 | 146 | #1,305 |
| 2021 | 52 | #3,153 | 153 | #1,252 |
| 2020 | 48 | #3,271 | 130 | #1,367 |
| 2019 | 33 | #4,328 | 85 | #1,813 |
| 2018 | 43 | #3,608 | 72 | #2,026 |
| 2017 | 26 | #5,165 | 99 | #1,620 |
| 2016 | 35 | #4,232 | 72 | #2,006 |
Every recorded year (40)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 27 | #5,106 | 73 | #1,997 |
| 2014 | 37 | #4,089 | 93 | #1,667 |
| 2013 | 43 | #3,635 | 71 | #1,959 |
| 2012 | 33 | #4,474 | 70 | #2,013 |
| 2011 | 59 | #2,939 | 104 | #1,532 |
| 2010 | 59 | #2,934 | 96 | #1,635 |
| 2009 | 81 | #2,391 | 115 | #1,454 |
| 2008 | 88 | #2,248 | 83 | #1,799 |
| 2007 | 37 | #4,199 | 40 | #2,964 |
| 2006 | 27 | #5,210 | 35 | #3,145 |
| 2005 | 27 | #4,938 | 31 | #3,304 |
| 2004 | 33 | #4,263 | 20 | #4,385 |
| 2003 | 42 | #3,456 | 25 | #3,608 |
| 2002 | 19 | #6,090 | 18 | #4,462 |
| 2001 | 13 | #8,120 | 15 | #5,090 |
| 2000 | 8 | #11,627 | 13 | #5,528 |
| 1999 | 6 | #14,151 | 20 | #3,809 |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,224 | 10 | #6,222 |
| 1997 | 11 | #8,248 | 17 | #4,024 |
| 1996 | under 5 | 7 | #7,838 | |
| 1995 | under 5 | 8 | #6,879 | |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,599 | 10 | #5,808 |
| 1993 | 6 | #13,188 | 7 | #7,496 |
| 1992 | under 5 | 7 | #7,276 | |
| 1991 | under 5 | 7 | #7,153 | |
| 1990 | under 5 | 7 | #7,058 | |
| 1989 | under 5 | 8 | #6,128 | |
| 1988 | under 5 | 5 | #8,317 | |
| 1986 | under 5 | 10 | #4,412 | |
| 1960 | under 5 | 5 | #4,522 |
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 Shia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 3,348 Americans recorded as Shia, 33% are girls and 67% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shia, and how old are they?
3,320 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 3,348 Americans ever recorded as Shia. The median Shia alive today is 11 years old; half are between 5 and 17.
The 2020 Census counted 2,042 people named Shia (787 women and girls, 1,255 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,189 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 86 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,250 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,980 |
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 Shia born?
The states with the most babies named Shia are New York, California and Texas, with 84% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 67 | #278 | 5.5× |
| California | 13 | #1,422 | 0.6× |
| Texas | 7 | #2,255 | 0.4× |
| Colorado | 7 | #748 | 0.3× |
| Florida | 5 | #2,056 | 0.3× |
| Oklahoma | 5 | #795 | 0.1× |
Where Shia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shia is most over-represented in New York: since 1960 it was given 5.5 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 boys’ 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 Shia 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 Shia
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 Shia and names like it
- Compare Shia and ZianBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sShia peaked in 2024.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shia since 1910.
- The top names of 2024The year the most babies were named Shia.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Shia alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with SMost given first.