Shaylene
Feminine · “hawk-like”
Shay and Shea are the same Irish sound written two ways, and English has never decided between them. The surname is Ó Séaghdha, and the word inside it means hawk-like, stately, fine — a compliment about bearing rather than about looks. Shaylene takes the phonetic spelling of that and adds the -lene ending that mid-century naming attached to everything.
How old is the name Shaylene?
Shaylene first appears in US birth records in 1969 — 56 years ago. The typical Shaylene alive today was born around 1994, making them about 31 years old. About 1,000 people named Shaylene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shaylene most popular?
Shaylene peaked in 1993, reaching #2573 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 10,635 places below that high. See the whole 1993 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Ó Séaghdha to Shaylene
The story of Shaylene
Ó Séaghdha is a Munster surname, anglicized as O'Shea and Shea, and it reached America in large numbers with Irish emigration. Shea and Shay both became first names here in the twentieth century, for both sexes. The -lene ending was doing steady work at the same moment, attaching to any short front element and producing Charlene, Darlene, Raelene and Shaylene. This spelling uses the phonetic front rather than the Irish one, which is what separates it from Shealynn and its relatives.
Meaningscholars disagree
hawk-like, stately
The Irish séaghdha is usually read as hawk-like, and by extension stately, fine or admirable — the hawk being a compliment about carriage rather than about hunting. That is the standard reading and it is not fully secure. The -lene ending is American and carries no meaning of its own.
How the name formed
- Ó Séaghdha
- Shea
- Shay
- Shaylene
Related forms: Ó Séaghdha
Pronouncing Shaylene
shay-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back, and the ending rhyming with seen. Some families say SHAY-leen with the weight in front; both are heard.
Nicknames for Shaylene
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
- 1969
- Most girls named
- 199348 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2573reached in 1993
- Change vs 2023
- +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.
Shaylene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Séaghdha in Irish — related form
Shaylenes among us
people named Shaylene are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Shaylene
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 Darcee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shaylene's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Darcee climbed just as high around 1960, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Darcee's path sketches the road Shaylene is walking now.
Shaylene 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
Shaylene beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shaylene in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Shay is available as a short form and suits a child of either sex.
- The Irish surname behind it is genuine and the meaning is unusually appealing.
- It is entirely readable on sight, which the Irish spelling is not.
- Shaylyn, Shalene and Shaylene all compete, so the spelling has to be given.
- It belongs to a recognizable stretch of American naming.
- The Irish original is unrecognizable in this spelling, so the heritage is invisible.
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What they receive
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Shaylene
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shaylenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Shaylene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shaylene in 2025?
- Shaylene ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shaylene?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Shaylene — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shaylene with classmates?
- Shaylene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shaylene
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 Shaylene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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