Find out how popular the last name Shea is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Shea.

Shea, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Shea surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Shea in America

Shea is the 1048th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Shea surname appeared 33,329 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 11 people would have the surname Shea.

We can also compare 2010 data for Shea to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Shea

The surname SHEA originated from Ireland, deriving its roots from the Gaelic words "O Siodhachain" which means "descendent of Siodhacha". Siodhacha was the name of an Irish clan located in County Longford. The name first appears in historical records dating back to the 12th century.

The earliest recorded spelling of the name appears in the Annals of the Four Masters in 1171, referring to "Fiacha O'Shee", a member of the clan. Over time, variations in spelling emerged, including O'Shea, O'Shee, and Shea. The surname eventually lost the prefix "O" and became simply Shea.

In the 16th century, the Shea clan played a prominent role in the Desmond Rebellions against the English crown. One notable figure was Sir Richard Shea, who fought alongside the Earl of Desmond in the 1580s. Despite their defeat, the Shea family remained influential in County Longford and surrounding areas.

The name Shea also has connections to various place names in Ireland, such as Sheamore in County Longford and Sheaghmore in County Galway. These place names likely derived from the surname itself or from individuals bearing the name.

Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the surname Shea. One example is Sir John Shea (1645-1718), an Irish military officer who served in the Jacobite Army during the Williamite War in Ireland. Another is Sir Robert Shea (1773-1853), an Irish-born American politician who served as the 16th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1848 to 1852.

Other notable individuals include John Augustus Shea (1824-1892), an American historian and writer who specialized in the history of the Catholic Church in America, and Sir Haisten Reid Shea (1904-1987), a British businessman and industrialist who was knighted for his contributions to the coal industry.

More recently, John Shea (born 1949) is an American actor known for his roles in films such as "Gossip" and "The Karate Kid". Sir Michael Shea (1938-2009) was a British judge who served as the Lord Justice of Appeal from 1998 to 2007.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Shea

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Shea.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Shea was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Shea has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Shea was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Shea, please contact us.

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