Shayden
A modern invented name, likely blend of Shay and Aiden.
Name Census estimates that about 1,235 living Americans carry the first name Shayden. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 76.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Shayden today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shayden births was 2008 (86 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shayden. 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 Shayden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Shayden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 277,534 Americans
Peak year
2008
86 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,747
Tracked since 1992
Census
Shayden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 999 people with the first name Shayden, which placed it at #12,448 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
#12,448
National first-name rank
People counted
999
999 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shayden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shayden is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.9%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Shayden 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 Shayden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.3% · 582
- Two or more races10.9% · 109
- Hispanic or Latino10.7% · 107
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.6% · 86
- Black or African American6.2% · 62
- American Indian and Alaska Native5.3% · 53
Gender
Gender distribution for Shayden
Shayden is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,249 total registrations, 960 (76.9%) were male and 289 (23.1%) were female.
Shayden as a male name
- Ranked #6,747 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (62 births)
Shayden as a female name
- Ranked #17,391 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2005 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shayden on both sides of the split. Of the 997 people counted with this name, 735 were male (73.7%) and 262 were female (26.3%).
Popularity
Shayden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shayden from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 625 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
Shayden 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 Shayden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaydens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Hawaii, California, Utah recorded the most babies named Shayden, while New York, Florida, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shayden
The given name Shayden is a relatively modern invention, likely originating in the late 20th century. It does not seem to have any direct linguistic or cultural roots in a particular language or region. The name appears to be a creative combination of existing name elements, possibly derived from the name Shay, which itself is a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Shaya or Shayna, meaning "gift."
The name Shayden does not appear to have any significant historical references or connections to ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records. It is a relatively new name that gained popularity in certain regions, particularly in the United States and parts of Canada, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Shayden is Shayden Sinclair, a Canadian ice hockey player born in 1993. Another notable individual with this name is Shayden Lale, an Australian basketball player born in 1995.
While the name Shayden is relatively uncommon, there are a few other individuals who have been recorded with this first name throughout history. Shayden Massey, an American football player, was born in 1990. Shayden Williamson, a Canadian musician, was born in 1987. Shayden Belsher, a Canadian ice hockey player, was born in 2000.
It is important to note that the name Shayden is a relatively modern creation and does not have a long historical lineage or significant cultural associations. Its popularity and usage are primarily concentrated in recent decades, reflecting the trend of creating unique and creative name combinations in modern times.
People
Shayden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shayden 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
Shayden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shayden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,235 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shayden 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 277,534 US residents.
Is Shayden a common name?
We classify Shayden as "Rare". It ranks above 91.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,249 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shayden most popular?
The single biggest year for Shayden was 2008, when 86 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shayden is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shayden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 999 people with the name Shayden, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,448 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 Shayden 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 Shayden?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shayden on both sides of the split. Of the 997 people counted with this name, 735 were male (73.7%) and 262 were female (26.3%). 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 Shayden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shayden is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (10.9%) and Hispanic (10.7%). 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 Shayden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shayden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.3% (582 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 Shayden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shayden a male name?
Yes, 76.9% of people registered as Shayden in the SSA data are male. 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 Shayden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shayden 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 Shayden 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 the name Shayden?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.