Shay
Torn between Shay and another name? Compare them side by side →
Meaning
variant of Shea, 'admirable, hawk-like'
The story
Shay is a meeting point, not one name with one route. In Irish use it is an Anglicized form related to Shea and the older name Séaghdha. In Hebrew use it can represent Shai, meaning gift. The matching English spelling does not turn those independent histories into cousins. A third association belongs to a surname. Ephraim Shay designed a geared steam locomotive that could haul timber around tight bends and over rough logging tracks. Its visible side shafts and moving gears made the machine look almost alive, and locomotives built on the design became known simply as Shays. That engineering story does not add another meaning to the given name. It shows how the same four letters can arrive through family history and enter industrial language. A person called Shay may belong to either naming tradition or neither one consciously. The honest story leaves the doors open: Irish name, Hebrew gift, and a clever locomotive sharing sound without sharing ancestry.
How popular is Shay around the world?
In the United States, 2,088 babies were named Shay between 2020 and 2025. In Ireland, 101 boys named Shay were born in 2025, the 52nd most common name among boys that year.
Shay is on the official records of the United States, Ireland, Scotland, South Australia, England and Wales, Canada, Mexico City, Spain and Brazil.
United States
1 in 10,000
In the United States, 2,088 babies were named Shay between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Shay peaked in the 2010s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Ireland
1 in 540
In Ireland, 101 boys named Shay were born in 2025, the 52nd most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Scotland
1 in 1,400
In Scotland, 29 boys named Shay were registered in 2024, the 155th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
1 in 4,6002017
In South Australia, 2 girls were registered as Shay in 2017.
In South Australia, 2 boys were registered as Shay in 2017.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
England and Wales
1 in 7,600
In England and Wales, 73 boys named Shay were born in 2025, the 529th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Canada
1 in 8,000
In Canada, 27 girls named Shay were born in 2024, the 991st most common name among girls that year.
In Canada, 19 boys named Shay were born in 2024, ranked 1,232nd among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
Mexico City City
1 in 120,000
In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Shay in 2022.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Spain
1 in 1.7M
In Spain, 27 residents are named Shay, ranked 24,256th among men, with a mean age of 32.8 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Austria
last on record 2022
Shay is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Brazil
At the 2022 census, 70 people in Brazil were named Shay, ranked 52,921st, with a median age of 12.
Among people named Shay living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Montevideo City
last on record 1997
Shay is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
New Zealand
last on record 2009
Shay is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Not on the record in Argentina, Puerto Rico and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
Keep exploring
The Shay deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Shay truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Shay fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Shay fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Shay to your family’s tree →