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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Shanay with official rankings and popularity over time.
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
Census
Shanay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,260 people with the first name Shanay, which placed it at #10,531 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
#10,531
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,260 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
74.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shanay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shanay is Black at 74.0%. The next largest groups are White (9.2%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Shanay 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 Shanay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American74.0% · 932
- White9.2% · 116
- Hispanic or Latino5.9% · 74
- Asian and Pacific Islander5.3% · 67
- Two or more races4.7% · 59
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 12
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)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shanay leans strongly female. 1,187 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 67 male bearers (5.3%).
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.
How common was Shanay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,260 people with the name Shanay, or 0.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,531 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 Shanay 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 Shanay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shanay leans strongly female. 1,187 people counted with this name were female (94.7%), compared with 67 male bearers (5.3%). 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 Shanay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shanay is Black at 74.0%. The next largest groups are White (9.2%) and Hispanic (5.9%). 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 Shanay most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shanay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.0% (932 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 Shanay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
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.
Is Shanay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shanay 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 Shanay 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 Shanay?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.