Shadee
An Arabic feminine name meaning "seeker of knowledge" or "intelligent".
Name Census estimates that about 158 living Americans carry the first name Shadee. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 55.5% of registrations being female. The average person named Shadee today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shadee births was 1980 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shadee. 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.
People living today
158
~ 1 in 2,169,331 Americans
Peak year
1980
14 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2004 SSA rank
#11,124
Tracked since 1978
Census
Shadee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 229 people with the first name Shadee, which placed it at #35,223 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
#35,223
National first-name rank
People counted
229
229 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
43.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shadee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shadee is Black at 43.7%. The next largest groups are White (38.9%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Shadee 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 Shadee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American43.7% · 100
- White38.9% · 89
- Hispanic or Latino10.9% · 25
- Two or more races3.9% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Shadee
Shadee is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 164 total registrations, 73 (44.5%) were male and 91 (55.5%) were female.
Shadee as a male name
- Ranked #11,124 in 2004
- 6 male births in 2004
- Peak: 1980 (9 births)
Shadee as a female name
- Ranked #16,447 in 1999
- 5 female births in 1999
- Peak: 1993 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shadee on both sides of the split. Of the 222 people counted with this name, 88 were male (39.6%) and 134 were female (60.4%).
Popularity
Shadee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shadee from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 81 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shadee 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 Shadee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shadees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shadee
The name Shadee has its origins rooted in ancient Persia, now known as Iran, and is derived from the Persian word "shad," meaning joy or happiness. This name first came into prominence during the Sassanid Empire, which ruled over Persia from the 3rd to the 7th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shadee was Shadee al-Bukhari, a renowned Persian scholar and poet who lived during the 9th century AD. His works, which celebrated the beauty of Persian culture and literature, are still widely studied and revered today.
In the 12th century, a famous Persian mystic and philosopher named Shadee al-Din Suhrawardi was born. He was a prominent figure in the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy and is considered one of the most influential thinkers of his time.
During the Safavid Dynasty, which ruled over Persia from the 16th to the 18th century, the name Shadee gained further popularity. One notable bearer of this name was Shadee Khan, a skilled military commander who played a crucial role in the expansion of the Safavid Empire.
In more recent history, Shadee Zanjani was a prominent Iranian politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1961 to 1962. He was instrumental in fostering closer ties between Iran and other nations during a period of political upheaval.
Another notable individual with the name Shadee was Shadee Ganji, a celebrated Iranian actor and filmmaker who rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. His performances in several acclaimed films earned him critical acclaim and a devoted following among Iranian cinephiles.
While the name Shadee has deep roots in Persian culture and history, it has also found its way into various other cultures and languages over time, albeit with slight variations in spelling or pronunciation. Regardless of its origins, the name continues to evoke a sense of joy and happiness, reflecting the enduring legacy of its Persian heritage.
People
Shadee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shadee 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
Shadee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shadee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 158 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shadee 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 2,169,331 US residents.
Is Shadee a common name?
We classify Shadee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 164 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shadee most popular?
The single biggest year for Shadee was 1980, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shadee is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shadee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 229 people with the name Shadee, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,223 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 Shadee 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 Shadee?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shadee on both sides of the split. Of the 222 people counted with this name, 88 were male (39.6%) and 134 were female (60.4%). 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 Shadee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shadee is Black at 43.7%. The next largest groups are White (38.9%) and Hispanic (10.9%). 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 Shadee most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shadee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.7% (100 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 Shadee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shadee a female name?
Yes, 55.5% of people registered as Shadee 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 Shadee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shadee 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 Shadee 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 many people have Shadee as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.