Shanay
A feminine variant of Shannon, a name of Irish origin meaning "old river".
Name Census estimates that about 1,392 living Americans carry the first name Shanay. It is a predominantly female name (96.9% of registrations). The average person named Shanay today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shanay births was 1992 (153 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shanay. 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
1.4K
~ 1 in 246,232 Americans
Peak year
1992
153 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,872
Tracked since 1970
Gender
Gender distribution for Shanay
Shanay leans heavily female at 96.9% of total registrations, but 45 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shanay as a male name
- Ranked #13,872 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (11 births)
Shanay as a female name
- Ranked #19,120 in 2012
- 5 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1992 (153 births)
Popularity
Shanay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shanay from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 602 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shanay 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 Shanay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shanays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 16 states and territories. New York, California, Maryland recorded the most babies named Shanay, while Missouri, Massachusetts, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shanay
The name Shanay is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to around the 2nd millennium BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "shana," which means "gradually" or "slowly." The name was likely first used in the Indian subcontinent, where Sanskrit has had a significant influence on language and culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shanay can be found in the ancient Hindu scriptures, the Vedas. In the Rigveda, which is one of the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism, there is a reference to a person named Shanay who was a skilled archer and warrior. This suggests that the name has been in use for thousands of years and may have held significance in Hindu mythology or folklore.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shanay. One of the most famous was Shanay Tulsidas, a 16th-century Indian poet and philosopher who wrote extensively on Hindu spirituality and was renowned for his works, including the Ramcharitmanas, a retelling of the Hindu epic Ramayana. He was born in 1532 and passed away in 1623.
Another prominent figure with the name Shanay was Shanay Singh, a 17th-century Rajput ruler who governed the princely state of Marwar (now part of Rajasthan, India) from 1661 to 1679. He was known for his military prowess and his efforts to expand and fortify his kingdom.
In the 19th century, Shanay Lall was a prominent Indian lawyer and jurist who served as a judge in the Calcutta High Court. He was born in 1827 and made significant contributions to the development of Indian legal system during the British Raj.
More recently, Shanay Mukherji was an Indian actress and dancer who appeared in several Bollywood films in the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in 1944 and is remembered for her performances in movies such as "Amar Prem" and "Anand."
Another notable individual with the name Shanay was Shanay Raghunath, an Indian cricketer who played domestic cricket for Mumbai in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was a skilled batsman and had a successful career in Indian domestic cricket circuits.
People
Shanay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shanay 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
Shanay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shanay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,392 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shanay 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 246,232 US residents.
Is Shanay a common name?
We classify Shanay as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shanay most popular?
The single biggest year for Shanay was 1992, when 153 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shanay is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shanay a female name?
Yes, 96.9% of people registered as Shanay 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.
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.