Shay
Masculine · “hawklike”
Shay is given to both — 5,024 boys and 8,227 girls since 1880. See Shay as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Shay is Séaghdha anglicized — the hawklike one — and the Irish word behind it went out of the language, which is why the meaning is not certain.
How old is the name Shay?
Shay first appears in US birth records in 1932 — 93 years ago. The typical Shay alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 4,800 people named Shay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shay most popular?
Shay peaked in 1991, reaching #833 nationally. Today it ranks #1976, 1,143 places below that high. See the whole 1991 chart.
Shay appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From séaghdha to Shay
The story of Shay
The Ó Séaghdha were a Kerry family of standing, and the surname was anglicized as Shea, O'Shea and Shay. Separately, Shai is a modern Israeli name meaning a gift. Both routes brought the sound to America, where Shay appears in the registers for both sexes and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
hawklike, stately
From the Irish Ó Séaghdha, from séaghdha, generally read as 'hawklike', 'fine' or 'stately'. The word is obsolete in modern Irish, which is why the reading is not settled. A separate Hebrew Shai, 'gift', is a genuine name that shares the sound.
How the name formed
- séaghdha
- Ó Séaghdha
- Shea
- Shay
Related forms: Shea · Shai · Ó Séaghdha
Pronouncing Shay
SHAY
One syllable. Shay, Shea and Shai are homophones; only the spelling differs.
Nicknames for Shay
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
- 1932
- Most boys named
- 1991154 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #833reached in 1991
- Change vs 2024
- −21.4%77 in 2025, from 98
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.
Shay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shea in English — spelling variant
- Shai in Hebrew — related form
- Ó Séaghdha in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania.
Shays among us
people named Shay are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 22,183 born in 2025 was named Shay
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Shay
- #1976
- Shay on the 2025 chart
- #649
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Shay went to 77 boys in 2025, but Shai 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 — 1,327 places above the chart.
- Shai215
- Shay77
About 1 boy in 5,850 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 22,183 for Shay 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 Michele test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shay's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Michele climbed just as high around 1969, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Michele's path sketches the road Shay is walking now.
Shay 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
Where Shay is headed
Shay should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
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.
Shay beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shay in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented Kerry family stands behind the Irish route.
- The Hebrew Shai gives it a second and quite different meaning.
- One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced.
- The Irish word is obsolete, so the meaning is not fully settled.
- It is thoroughly unisex in American use.
- Shea and Shai are both close and equally established.
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What they receive
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Shay
Masculine · #1976 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,800 people named Shay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Shay?
- Shay is one of 2 recorded spellings. Shai is the more common one — 215 births in 2025 against 77 for Shay.
- How popular is the name Shay in 2025?
- Shay ranks #1976 among US boy names in 2025, with 77 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shay?
- About 1 in every 22,183 US boys born in 2025 was named Shay — 77 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shay with classmates?
- Shay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shay
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Winter#1976 · Donte#1976 · Jacobo#1976 · Khyree#1976 · Kru#1976 · Jaleel#1976 · Arrow#1976 · Davon#1976
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shay? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shay and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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