Shade
Feminine
Shade is given to both — 869 girls and 1,156 boys since 1880. See Shade as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Shade has two entirely separate lives in the American record, and they arrived a century apart. In the nineteenth-century South it was the everyday short form of Shadrach — the man who walks out of the furnace in the book of Daniel — and it turns up on census pages across the region. In the twentieth it arrived again from Yoruba, where Sade is short for a name about honor and crowns.
How old is the name Shade?
Shade first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Shade alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 900 people named Shade are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shade most popular?
Shade peaked in 1986, reaching #1838 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,370 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Shadrach to Shade
The story of Shade
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are the three men thrown into the furnace for refusing to bow to a statue, and the names were popular in American Protestant families through the nineteenth century — Shade was what everybody actually said. That use is nearly gone. Separately, Yoruba naming brought Folashade and its short form Sade into English-speaking countries, and a very well-known singer made that version familiar. The American record shows the name from 1880 and still present now, but the people carrying it in the two periods have almost nothing in common.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
As a short form of Shadrach, the name is Babylonian rather than Hebrew and its meaning is not recoverable — the book of Daniel gives it as a name imposed by a foreign court. As the Yoruba Sade, it shortens Folashade, honor confers a crown. As the English word, it means what it says. Three roads, one spelling, and the record cannot separate them.
How the name formed
- Shadrach
- Shade
Related forms: Sade · Shadrach
Pronouncing Shade
SHAYD
One syllable, said exactly like the English word. The Yoruba Sade is said shah-DAY in two syllables with the weight at the back, which is a completely different name to the ear.
Nicknames for Shade
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 198661 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1838reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- +20.0%6 in 2025, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Shade in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Sade in Yoruba — related form
- Shadrach in Hebrew — related form
Shades among us
people named Shade are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Shade
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Agripina test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shade's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Agripina climbed just as high around 1928, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Agripina's path sketches the road Shade is walking now.
Shade sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Shade beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shade in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and five letters — it sits well before almost any surname.
- Everyone can spell it and say it after hearing it once.
- Both of its histories are real and interesting, and they are entirely unalike.
- It works for a child of either sex, which the record confirms.
- It is an ordinary English noun, and the modern slang sense — throwing shade — is unavoidable now.
- The Southern short form it once was has been forgotten, so the history has to be explained.
- It leans to boys without settling there, so forms and rosters will guess.
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What they receive
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Shade
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shades are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Shade are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shade in 2025?
- Shade ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shade?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Shade — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shade with classmates?
- Shade will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shade
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shade? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shade and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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