Shayna
A feminine name of Hebrew origin meaning "beautiful" or "pleasant".
Name Census estimates that about 15,578 living Americans carry the first name Shayna. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shayna today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shayna births was 1991 (677 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shayna. 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 Shayna with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
16K
~ 1 in 22,002 Americans
Peak year
1991
677 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
1985 SSA rank
#2,623
Tracked since 1957
Census
Shayna in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 14,160 people with the first name Shayna, which placed it at #1,964 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
#1,964
National first-name rank
People counted
14K
14,160 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shayna
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shayna is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Shayna 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 Shayna at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.3% · 9,950
- Black or African American11.4% · 1,609
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 1,010
- Two or more races6.3% · 891
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.8% · 536
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 164
Gender
Gender distribution for Shayna
Out of the 16,195 babies given the name Shayna since 1880, 100.0% 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.
Shayna as a male name
- Ranked #7,426 in 1985
- 5 male births in 1985
- Peak: 1985 (5 births)
Shayna as a female name
- Ranked #2,623 in 2024
- 67 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (677 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shayna appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,154 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Shayna: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shayna from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5,835 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
Shayna 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 Shayna during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaynas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Shayna, while Wyoming, Vermont, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 275 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shayna
The given name Shayna has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "Shaina," which means "beautiful" or "pleasant." This name was commonly used in Jewish communities throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shayna can be found in the Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism compiled between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE. Here, the name is mentioned in reference to a woman named Shayna, who was known for her wisdom and piety.
In the Middle Ages, the name Shayna gained popularity among Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, particularly in Poland and Russia. During this time, several notable individuals bore this name, including Shayna the Prophetess (c. 1500), a renowned Jewish mystic and scholar from Poland.
As Jewish communities spread across the globe, the name Shayna traveled with them. In the 17th century, Shayna Shmerlin (1620-1678) was a prominent Jewish businesswoman and philanthropist in Amsterdam, known for her contributions to the local community.
Moving into the modern era, one of the most famous individuals named Shayna was Shayna Punim (1892-1967), a Yiddish actress and comedian who performed on the Yiddish theater stages of New York City in the early 20th century.
Another notable figure was Shayna Zamchik (1919-2005), a Polish-born American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the development of early computers and programming languages.
Throughout its history, the name Shayna has been cherished within Jewish communities for its beautiful meaning and cultural significance. While its popularity has ebbed and flowed over the centuries, it remains a beloved name with deep roots in Jewish tradition and heritage.
People
Shayna + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shayna 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
Shayna: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shayna?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 15,578 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shayna 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 22,002 US residents.
Is Shayna a common name?
We classify Shayna as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 16,195 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shayna most popular?
The single biggest year for Shayna was 1991, when 677 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shayna is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shayna in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 14,160 people with the name Shayna, or 4.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,964 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 Shayna 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 Shayna?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shayna appears almost entirely female. Of the 14,154 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Shayna?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shayna is White at 70.3%. The next largest groups are Black (11.4%) and Hispanic (7.1%). 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 Shayna most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shayna in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.3% (9,950 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 Shayna in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shayna a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shayna 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 Shayna still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shayna 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 Shayna 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 share the name Shayna?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.