Sharay
A Hebrew feminine name meaning "princess" or "noble lady".
Name Census estimates that about 708 living Americans carry the first name Sharay. It is a predominantly female name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Sharay today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharay births was 1991 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharay. 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
708
~ 1 in 484,116 Americans
Peak year
1991
51 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
1979 SSA rank
#6,925
Tracked since 1967
Census
Sharay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 650 people with the first name Sharay, which placed it at #17,115 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
#17,115
National first-name rank
People counted
650
650 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
73.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharay is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.7%) and White (8.2%). 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 Sharay 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 Sharay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American73.1% · 475
- Hispanic or Latino11.7% · 76
- White8.2% · 53
- Two or more races5.1% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Sharay
Out of the 744 babies given the name Sharay since 1880, 99.3% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sharay as a male name
- Ranked #6,925 in 1979
- 5 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1979 (5 births)
Sharay as a female name
- Ranked #13,284 in 2012
- 8 female births in 2012
- Peak: 1991 (51 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharay leans strongly female. 620 people counted with this name were female (96.0%), compared with 26 male bearers (4.0%).
Popularity
Sharay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharay from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 269 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
Sharay 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 Sharay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sharays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Sharay, while Maryland, New Jersey, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharay
The name Sharay is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that dates back to the 2nd millennium BCE. It is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "sharayu," which means "river" or "stream." This suggests that the name may have been initially used in the Indian subcontinent, particularly in regions where Sanskrit was widely spoken.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharay can be found in the ancient Hindu epic, the Mahabharata. In this epic, Sharay is mentioned as the name of a river that flows through the region of Kurukshetra, where the famous battle between the Pandavas and Kauravas took place. This reference suggests that the name has been in use since at least the 4th century BCE, when the Mahabharata is believed to have been composed.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who have borne the name Sharay. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Sharay Bahadur, a Rajput warrior who lived in the 16th century during the reign of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. He was known for his bravery and loyalty to the Mughal Empire.
Another prominent figure was Sharay Devi, a Hindu mystic and spiritual teacher who lived in the 17th century. She was revered for her teachings on devotion and self-realization, and her teachings were compiled in the text known as the "Sharay Vachanamritam."
In more recent times, Sharay Singh was a renowned Indian classical musician who lived from 1925 to 1992. He was a master of the sitar and was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, for his contributions to music.
Sharay Rani was a prominent Indian actress and dancer who lived from 1930 to 2005. She was known for her performances in classical Indian dance forms such as Bharatanatyam and Kathak, and she received numerous accolades, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award.
Lastly, Sharay Trupathi was an Indian writer and literary critic who lived from 1928 to 2003. She was known for her works on Indian literature and culture, and she received the Sahitya Akademi Award, one of India's highest literary honors, for her contributions to literature.
People
Sharay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharay 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
Sharay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 708 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharay 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 484,116 US residents.
Is Sharay a common name?
We classify Sharay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 744 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharay most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharay was 1991, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharay is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 650 people with the name Sharay, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,115 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 Sharay 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 Sharay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharay leans strongly female. 620 people counted with this name were female (96.0%), compared with 26 male bearers (4.0%). 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 Sharay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharay is Black at 73.1%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.7%) and White (8.2%). 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 Sharay most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sharay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.1% (475 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 Sharay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharay a female name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Sharay 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 Sharay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharay 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 Sharay 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 Sharay as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.