Shea
Masculine · “hawklike”
Shea is given to both — 8,537 boys and 12,565 girls since 1880. See Shea as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Shea is Ó Séaghdha anglicized — descendant of the hawklike one — and the Irish word behind it describes a man admired for being fine or stately.
How old is the name Shea?
Shea first appears in US birth records in 1954 — 71 years ago. The typical Shea alive today was born around 1996, making them about 29 years old. About 8,200 people named Shea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shea most popular?
Shea peaked in 1986, reaching #529 nationally. Today it ranks #1547, 1,018 places below that high. See the whole 1986 chart.
Shea appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From séaghdha to Shea
The story of Shea
The Ó Séaghdha were a Kerry family of some standing, and the surname was anglicized as Shea, O'Shea and Shay. Irish emigration carried it to America, where it entered given-name use in the twentieth century for both sexes — masculine first, feminine from the 1970s. Masculine Shea 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 The word is obsolete in modern Irish, which is why the reading is not fully settled. The surname is documented in Kerry from the medieval period.
How the name formed
- séaghdha
- Ó Séaghdha
- Shea
Related forms: Ó Séaghdha · Shay · O'Shea
Pronouncing Shea
SHAY
One syllable. Shea and Shay are homophones; the ea spelling follows the Irish anglicization.
Nicknames for Shea
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
- 1954
- Most boys named
- 1986280 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #529reached in 1986
- Change vs 2024
- −7.5%111 in 2025, from 120
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.
Shea in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Séaghdha in Irish — related form
- Shay in English — spelling variant
- O'Shea in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, California, Massachusetts.
Sheas among us
people named Shea are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,388 born in 2025 was named Shea
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 Boyce test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shea's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Boyce climbed just as high around 1938, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Boyce's path sketches the road Shea is walking now.
Shea 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 Shea is headed
Shea 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.
Shea beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shea 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 it.
- The hawklike reading is vivid where it holds.
- One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced.
- The Irish word is obsolete, so the meaning is not fully settled.
- It is thoroughly unisex in America and does not signal sex on paper.
- The ea spelling invites a SHEE reading from people who have not met it.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Shea
Masculine · #1547 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sheas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,200 people named Shea are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shea in 2025?
- Shea ranks #1547 among US boy names in 2025, with 111 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shea?
- About 1 in every 15,388 US boys born in 2025 was named Shea — 111 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shea with classmates?
- Shea will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shea
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Chevy#1547 · Lloyd#1547 · Nehemias#1547 · Truman#1547 · Ruger#1547 · Jaylin#1547 · Cypress#1554 · Paulo#1554
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shea? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shea and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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