Shai
Masculine · “Gift”
Shai is given to both — 2,469 boys and 1,871 girls since 1880. See Shai as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Shai is the Hebrew word for a gift or a present, used as a given name in modern Israel and carried from there into English-speaking countries. One syllable, four letters, and nothing in it to trip over once you know it rhymes with "eye." It has been on American records since the early 1970s and has been climbing rather than fading.
How old is the name Shai?
Shai first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Shai is a kid of about 6 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,400 people named Shai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shai most popular?
Shai peaked in 2023, reaching #977 nationally. Today it ranks #1030, 53 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Shai appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From שַׁי (shai), Hebrew for 'gift' to Shai
The story of Shai
Shai comes straight from the Hebrew noun shai, a gift or an offering; the word turns up in the Psalms for tribute carried to a king. Its life as a personal name is modern rather than biblical — one of the many short, plain Hebrew words taken up as given names in Israel over the twentieth century, alongside others drawn from nature and everyday speech. It is given to both boys and girls there, with no sense that either use is the odd one. American families brought it over through Israeli and Jewish-American households, and it has spread outward from them, helped along by how easily the sound sits in English.
Meaning
Gift, present (Hebrew)
In Israel, Shai also does duty as a short form of longer names beginning with the same sound, Yishai (Jesse) and Yeshayahu (Isaiah) among them, so a given Shai may be a whole name or a familiar form of one.
How the name formed
- שַׁי, Hebrew for 'gift'shai
- Shai
Related forms: שַׁי · Shay · Shaye · Shaya
Pronouncing Shai
SHY
One syllable, rhyming with "eye." Because English readers know the spelling Shay, a fair number will guess SHAY on first sight; both pronunciations are heard in the US, and families usually settle it with a single correction.
Nicknames for Shai
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 2023224 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #977reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +7.5%215 in 2025, from 200
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.
Shai in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- שַׁי in Hebrew — transliteration
- Shay in English — spelling variant
- Shaye in English — spelling variant
- Shaya in Yiddish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Florida.
Shais among us
people named Shai are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 7,945 born in 2025 was named Shai
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Shai
- #1030
- Shai on the 2025 chart
- #649
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Shai went to 215 boys in 2025, but Shay is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 292, which makes it the 649th most-given boys’ name of the year — 381 places above the chart.
- Shai215
- Shay77
About 1 boy in 5,850 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 7,945 for Shai itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Danniel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shai's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Danniel climbed just as high around 1950, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Danniel's path sketches the road Shai is walking now.
Shai is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Shai is headed
Shai looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 27% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Shai beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shai in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters — easy to write early, easy to fit beside almost any surname.
- Spelled exactly as it sounds once the pronunciation is known, with no silent letters or doubled consonants.
- Works in both Hebrew and English without translation or adjustment, which matters for families who move between the two.
- Recognized in Israel for boys and girls alike, so a bearer traveling there meets no confusion about the name itself.
- The SHY/SHAY split is real. Expect to correct teachers, coaches and new colleagues from time to time, and expect the occasional letter addressed to Shay or Shea.
- In Israel the name is given to girls as often as boys, and English speakers who know it may not assume either way. In the US it is recorded for boys, but a bearer will sometimes be read as a girl on paper.
- It is uncommon enough here that most people will be meeting it for the first time — usually a small pleasure, occasionally a small explanation.
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What they receive
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Shai
Masculine · #1030 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shais are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Shai are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Shai?
- Shai is the most-used spelling in US records — 215 of the 292 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Shay.
- How popular is the name Shai in 2025?
- Shai ranks #1030 among US boy names in 2025, with 215 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shai?
- About 1 in every 7,945 US boys born in 2025 was named Shai — 215 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shai with classmates?
- Shai will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shai
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kellan#1030 · Yaseen#1030 · Ivaan#1030 · Kaius#1028 · Devon#1028 · Zavier#1034 · Carmine#1034 · Gatlin#1026
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shai? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shai and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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