Shayne
An English unisex name derived from Old English meaning "bright" or "brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 12,927 living Americans carry the first name Shayne. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.4% of registrations being male. The average person named Shayne today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shayne births was 1990 (446 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shayne. 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
13K
~ 1 in 26,515 Americans
Peak year
1990
446 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,042
Tracked since 1943
Gender
Gender distribution for Shayne
Shayne is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 13,655 total registrations, 10,708 (78.4%) were male and 2,947 (21.6%) were female.
Shayne as a male name
- Ranked #4,042 in 2024
- 27 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (399 births)
Shayne as a female name
- Ranked #7,514 in 2024
- 15 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (87 births)
Popularity
Shayne: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shayne from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 3,545 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shayne 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 Shayne during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaynes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Shayne, while Rhode Island, Vermont, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 184 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shayne
The name Shayne has its origins in the Irish language, derived from the Gaelic word "Seán," which is the Irish version of the name John. The name Shayne is believed to have emerged as a variant spelling during the 16th or 17th century when many Irish names were anglicized by English settlers and scribes.
Seán is a traditional Irish name with roots dating back to ancient Celtic times. It is derived from the Hebrew name "Yohanan," meaning "Yahweh is gracious." The name gained popularity in Ireland after it was introduced by early Christian missionaries, and it became a common name among the Irish people.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shayne can be found in the 17th century Irish annals, where it appears as a surname. In the late 16th century, a man named Shane O'Neill, also known as the Great Shane, was an influential Irish chieftain and the leader of the O'Neill dynasty in Ulster.
Among the notable historical figures who bore the name Shayne, we can mention Shane Leslie (1885-1971), an Irish writer, politician, and diplomat who served as a member of the Irish Free State Senate. Another prominent figure was Shane MacGowan (born 1957), the Irish-British singer-songwriter and lead singer of the Celtic punk band The Pogues.
In the realm of literature, the name Shayne appears in the works of Irish playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), who featured a character named Shayne in his novel "Watt." Additionally, Shayne was the first name of the protagonist in the popular detective novel series by Brett Halliday, featuring the character Michael Shayne, a fictional private investigator.
Other notable individuals with the first name Shayne include Shayne Ward (born 1984), an English pop singer and actor who won the second series of the British talent show "The X Factor" in 2005, and Shayne Gostisbehere (born 1993), an American professional ice hockey player currently playing for the Arizona Coyotes in the National Hockey League.
While the name Shayne has its roots in Irish culture, it has gained popularity worldwide and has been adopted by various cultures and ethnicities, making it a diverse and multicultural name with a rich historical background.
People
Shayne + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shayne 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
Shayne: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shayne?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,927 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shayne 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 26,515 US residents.
Is Shayne a common name?
We classify Shayne as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,655 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shayne most popular?
The single biggest year for Shayne was 1990, when 446 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shayne is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Shayne a male name?
Yes, 78.4% of people registered as Shayne 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.
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.