Sha
A feminine Persian name meaning "falcon" or "night-dark beauty".
Name Census estimates that about 718 living Americans carry the first name Sha. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.4% of registrations being female. The average person named Sha today is around 40 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sha births was 1989 (40 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sha. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sha with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
718
~ 1 in 477,374 Americans
Peak year
1989
40 babies that year
Average age
40
years old
2020 SSA rank
#13,714
Tracked since 1962
Census
Sha in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,931 people with the first name Sha, which placed it at #7,754 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,754
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,931 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
54.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sha
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.3%. The next largest groups are Black (22.5%) and White (16.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Sha described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Sha at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander54.3% · 1,048
- Black or African American22.5% · 435
- White16.9% · 327
- Two or more races3.3% · 64
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 48
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Sha
Sha leans heavily female at 83.4% of total registrations, but 127 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sha as a male name
- Ranked #13,714 in 2020
- 5 male births in 2020
- Peak: 1974 (9 births)
Sha as a female name
- Ranked #17,250 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1989 (32 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sha on both sides of the split. Of the 1,930 people counted with this name, 621 were male (32.2%) and 1,309 were female (67.8%).
Popularity
Sha: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sha from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 244 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sha by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Sha during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, Alabama, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Sha, while Virginia, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 16 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sha
The name Sha has its origins in Ancient Egyptian culture, dating back to around 3000 BC. It is derived from the Egyptian word "sha'a," which means "noble" or "illustrious." In ancient hieroglyphic writings, the name was often represented by a symbol depicting a falcon, which was a revered creature in Egyptian mythology.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sha can be found in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, an ancient funerary text from around 1550 BC. The text mentions a high-ranking official named Sha-Amun, who held a prominent position in the royal court during the 18th Dynasty.
In ancient Greek literature, there is a reference to a legendary figure named Sha-Nefer, who was said to be a skilled warrior and advisor to the pharaohs. The name Sha-Nefer translates to "noble and beautiful" in Egyptian, highlighting the positive connotations associated with the name.
One of the most famous historical figures with the name Sha was Sha-Bakht, a Persian philosopher and mathematician who lived during the 9th century AD. He made significant contributions to the fields of astronomy and geometry, and his works were widely studied throughout the Islamic Golden Age.
Another notable individual was Sha-Jahan, the fifth Mughal emperor of India, who reigned from 1628 to 1658. He is best known for commissioning the construction of the Taj Mahal, one of the most iconic and magnificent architectural wonders in the world.
In more recent history, Sha-Nawaz Bhutto was a prominent Pakistani politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1973 to 1977. He played a crucial role in shaping the country's domestic and foreign policies during a tumultuous period.
Sha-Ri'ah, an Islamic scholar and jurist from the 8th century AD, is also noteworthy for her contributions to the development of Islamic jurisprudence. She was highly respected for her extensive knowledge of the Qur'an and Islamic law, and her teachings influenced generations of scholars.
Finally, Sha-Kazemi was a renowned Iranian poet and mystic who lived in the 14th century. His poetic works, which often explored themes of spirituality and divine love, have been celebrated for their depth and beauty, and continue to be studied and appreciated by scholars and literary enthusiasts alike.
People
Sha + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sha as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Sha: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sha?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 718 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sha going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 477,374 US residents.
Is Sha a common name?
We classify Sha as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 766 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sha most popular?
The single biggest year for Sha was 1989, when 40 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sha is about 40 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sha in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,931 people with the name Sha, or 0.64 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,754 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Sha in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Sha?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Sha on both sides of the split. Of the 1,930 people counted with this name, 621 were male (32.2%) and 1,309 were female (67.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Sha?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sha is Asian/Pacific Islander at 54.3%. The next largest groups are Black (22.5%) and White (16.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Sha most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Sha in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.3% (1,048 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Sha in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sha a female name?
Yes, 83.4% of people registered as Sha in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Sha still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sha in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Sha can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How common is the name Sha?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.