Shayli
A feminine name of Indian origin meaning "woman of ease and grace".
Name Census estimates that about 346 living Americans carry the first name Shayli. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shayli today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shayli births was 2006 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shayli. 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
346
~ 1 in 990,619 Americans
Peak year
2006
24 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2023 SSA rank
#12,024
Tracked since 1988
Census
Shayli in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 319 people with the first name Shayli, which placed it at #28,252 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
#28,252
National first-name rank
People counted
319
319 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
71.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shayli
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shayli is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Shayli 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 Shayli at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White71.8% · 229
- Hispanic or Latino12.5% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.0% · 19
- Two or more races6.0% · 19
- Black or African American2.2% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 5
Popularity
Shayli: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shayli from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 159 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
Shayli 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 Shayli during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaylis live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shayli
The name Shayli is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to around the 2nd millennium BCE. It is derived from the Sanskrit word "Shail," which means "mountain" or "rock." The name is thought to have been used in ancient India and is associated with Hindu culture and mythology.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shayli can be found in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, which is believed to have been composed between the 8th and 4th centuries BCE. In this ancient text, Shayli is mentioned as the name of a princess from the kingdom of Shalya, which is located in present-day India.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shayli. One of the earliest recorded was Shayli Devi, a renowned scholar and poet who lived in the 7th century CE in the Kashmiri region of India. Her works were celebrated for their depth and eloquence, and she is considered one of the most influential figures in the literary history of Kashmir.
Another famous Shayli was Shayli Somani, a prominent Indian social activist and philanthropist who lived from 1914 to 1992. She dedicated her life to empowering women and promoting education, and was the founder of several notable organizations, including the All India Women's Conference and the Hind Swaraj Trust.
In more recent times, Shayli Mehta is a well-known Indian actress and model who has appeared in numerous Bollywood films and television shows since the early 2000s. She is known for her versatility and has received critical acclaim for her performances in various genres.
Shayli Singh is another notable individual who bears this name. She is an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who has been instrumental in preserving and promoting the traditional dance forms of India. Singh has received numerous awards and accolades for her contributions to the art form, including the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Lastly, Shayli Dixit is a renowned Indian writer and poet who has published several collections of poetry and short stories. Her work often explores themes of identity, feminism, and societal issues, and she has been widely recognized for her thought-provoking and evocative writing style.
People
Shayli + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shayli 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
Shayli: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shayli?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 346 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shayli 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 990,619 US residents.
Is Shayli a common name?
We classify Shayli as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 353 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shayli most popular?
The single biggest year for Shayli was 2006, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shayli is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shayli in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 319 people with the name Shayli, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,252 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 Shayli 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 Shayli?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shayli appears almost entirely female. Of the 322 people counted with this name, 100.0% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Shayli?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shayli is White at 71.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.0%). 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 Shayli most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shayli in the 2020 Census, accounting for 71.8% (229 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 Shayli in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shayli a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shayli 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 Shayli still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shayli 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 Shayli 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 Americans are named Shayli?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.