Shontay
Feminine · “sung”
Shontay is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 567 girls against 10 boys since 1880.
Shontay is the French chanté, sung, written the way an English ear hears it. It is two bright syllables with the stress at the end, and it has gone almost entirely to girls.
How old is the name Shontay?
Shontay first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Shontay alive today was born around 1982, making them about 43 years old. About 500 people named Shontay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shontay most popular?
Shontay peaked in 1977, reaching #2307 nationally. See the whole 1977 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From chanter to Shontay
The story of Shontay
French names and words were favorite material for American parents, and chanté, sung, came into use as a girl's name spelled many ways, Chanté, Chantay, Shantay and Shontay among them. The same French word gave a name to a group of Southern California teenagers, the Chantays, whose surf instrumental Pipeline became one of the defining records of the surf sound. Shontay writes the word with the sh and on of English spelling, and nothing records which family first did.
Meaningscholars disagree
sung, from French chanté
Shontay most likely respells Chanté, from French chanter, to sing. It may also be a build on the Shon- of Shonda; the record does not say which.
How the name formed
- chanter
- Chanté
- Shontay
Related forms: Chantée
Pronouncing Shontay
shahn-TAY
Stress on the second syllable.
Nicknames for Shontay
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 197739 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2307reached in 1977
- Change vs 1998
- −14.3%6 in 2000, from 7
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.
Shontay in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Chantée in French — related form
Shontays among us
people named Shontay are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Shontay sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It has a bright, musical sound and a lovely meaning.
- Shon and Tay give two short forms.
- It will be spelled Chantay, Shantay or Shante.
- A very few boys have been given it; for them it will read as a girl's name almost everywhere.
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Shontay
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shontays are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Shontay are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shontay in 2025?
- Shontay is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shontay with classmates?
- Shontay will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shontay? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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