Shaia
A feminine name derived from the Arabic word for "fire of life".
Name Census estimates that about 98 living Americans carry the first name Shaia. It is a predominantly female name (93.9% of registrations). The average person named Shaia today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaia births was 2023 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaia. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shaia. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
98
~ 1 in 3,497,493 Americans
Peak year
2023
12 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,018
Tracked since 1982
Census
Shaia in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 163 people with the first name Shaia, which placed it at #43,340 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
#43,340
National first-name rank
People counted
163
163 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaia
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaia is White at 38.7%. The next largest groups are Black (34.4%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Shaia 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 Shaia at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.7% · 63
- Black or African American34.4% · 56
- Two or more races9.8% · 16
- Hispanic or Latino7.4% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Shaia
Shaia leans heavily female at 93.9% of total registrations, but 6 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shaia as a male name
- Ranked #12,018 in 2023
- 6 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (6 births)
Shaia as a female name
- Ranked #13,210 in 2024
- 7 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (9 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaia leans strongly female. 135 people counted with this name were female (81.8%), compared with 30 male bearers (18.2%).
Popularity
Shaia: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaia from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 40 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Shaia remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shaia 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 Shaia during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaia
The given name Shaia has its origins in ancient Sumerian culture, dating back to around 3500 BCE. It is derived from the Sumerian word "sha'ia," which means "heavenly" or "celestial." The name was initially associated with religious and spiritual contexts, often referring to deities or celestial beings in Sumerian mythology.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shaia can be found in the cuneiform tablets of the ancient city of Ur, where it was used as a name for a priestess in the temple of the moon goddess Nanna. This suggests that the name carried significant symbolic meaning and was likely bestowed upon individuals with a spiritual or religious role in Sumerian society.
The name Shaia gained further prominence during the Akkadian Empire, which ruled over Mesopotamia from around 2350 BCE to 2150 BCE. During this period, the name was occasionally used by members of the royal family, indicating its elevated status and association with power and authority.
In ancient Egyptian records, there are references to a high-ranking official named Shaia who served under Pharaoh Amenhotep III during the 18th Dynasty, around 1390 BCE to 1352 BCE. This individual's name appears on several monuments and inscriptions, suggesting their significant role in the Egyptian administration.
Moving forward in history, the name Shaia was also documented in the ancient Greek world. One notable individual bearing this name was Shaia of Cyrene, a philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 5th century BCE. He is credited with developing geometric proofs and contributing to the field of mathematics during the classical Greek period.
Another influential figure with the name Shaia was a Zoroastrian priest who lived in Persia (modern-day Iran) during the Sassanid Empire, around the 6th century CE. This Shaia played a crucial role in the preservation and transmission of Zoroastrian teachings and religious texts, ensuring the continuation of this ancient Persian faith.
In the medieval period, the name Shaia was occasionally used in various regions, including parts of the Middle East and North Africa. One notable individual was Shaia al-Andalusi, an Andalusian scholar and poet who lived in the 12th century CE. He was renowned for his contributions to Arabic literature and his influential works on philosophy and theology.
Throughout history, the name Shaia has maintained a connection to spirituality, wisdom, and intellectual pursuits, reflecting its celestial and divine origins in ancient Sumerian culture.
People
Shaia + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaia 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
Shaia: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaia?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 98 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaia 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 3,497,493 US residents.
Is Shaia a common name?
We classify Shaia as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 99 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaia most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaia was 2023, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaia is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaia in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 163 people with the name Shaia, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,340 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 Shaia 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 Shaia?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaia leans strongly female. 135 people counted with this name were female (81.8%), compared with 30 male bearers (18.2%). 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 Shaia?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaia is White at 38.7%. The next largest groups are Black (34.4%) and Two or More Races (9.8%). 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 Shaia most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shaia in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.7% (63 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 Shaia in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaia a female name?
Yes, 93.9% of people registered as Shaia 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 Shaia still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaia 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 Shaia 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 Shaia?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.