Sharai
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "the recompensed or the rewarded".
Name Census estimates that about 450 living Americans carry the first name Sharai. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharai today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharai births was 2000 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharai. 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 Sharai with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
450
~ 1 in 761,676 Americans
Peak year
2000
23 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2017 SSA rank
#18,065
Tracked since 1971
Census
Sharai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 426 people with the first name Sharai, which placed it at #23,110 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
#23,110
National first-name rank
People counted
426
426 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
43.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharai is Hispanic at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Black (32.4%) and White (16.2%). 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 Sharai 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 Sharai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino43.2% · 184
- Black or African American32.4% · 138
- White16.2% · 69
- Two or more races4.9% · 21
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.1% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 1
Popularity
Sharai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharai from the 1970s through to the 2010s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 186 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharai 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 Sharai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sharais live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharai
The name Sharai is believed to have originated from the Hebrew language and culture. It is thought to have roots in the ancient Hebrew word "shar," which means "prince" or "noble." The name likely emerged during the biblical times in the region of ancient Israel and the Middle East.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharai can be found in the Book of Esther from the Hebrew Bible. In this text, Sharai is mentioned as one of the seven eunuchs who served King Ahasuerus. This reference dates back to around the 5th century BCE.
Throughout history, the name Sharai has been borne by several notable individuals. One example is Sharai ben Yitzchak, a Jewish scholar and philosopher who lived in Spain during the 11th century CE. He is known for his work on the principles of Jewish faith and his contributions to the field of Jewish philosophy.
Another prominent figure with the name Sharai was Sharai ben Shalom, a Jewish rabbi and scholar from the 16th century. He was born in Safed, Palestine, and is renowned for his commentary on the Torah and his teachings on Kabbalah, the mystical branch of Judaism.
In more recent times, Sharai Siemens was a German artist and sculptor who lived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in 1875, she is celebrated for her intricate and detailed sculptures, many of which depicted scenes from Greek mythology.
Additionally, Sharai Virabhadra Rao was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who played a significant role in the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century. He was born in 1886 and actively participated in protests and civil disobedience campaigns against British colonial rule.
While the name Sharai is not as common today as some other names, it has a rich historical legacy spanning various cultures and time periods. Its origins can be traced back to ancient Hebrew roots, and it has been carried by notable figures across different fields, including religion, philosophy, art, and politics.
People
Sharai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharai 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
Sharai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 450 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharai 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 761,676 US residents.
Is Sharai a common name?
We classify Sharai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 465 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharai most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharai was 2000, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharai is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 426 people with the name Sharai, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,110 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 Sharai 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 Sharai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharai leans strongly female. 425 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 7 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Sharai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharai is Hispanic at 43.2%. The next largest groups are Black (32.4%) and White (16.2%). 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 Sharai most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sharai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 43.2% (184 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 Sharai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharai a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharai 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 Sharai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharai 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 Sharai 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 Sharai?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.