Shiya
A unisex name of uncertain origin, possibly related to the Hebrew shîr meaning "song".
Name Census estimates that about 251 living Americans carry the first name Shiya. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.1% of registrations being female. The average person named Shiya today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shiya births was 2015 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shiya. 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 Shiya with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
251
~ 1 in 1,365,555 Americans
Peak year
2015
25 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,607
Tracked since 1989
Census
Shiya in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 364 people with the first name Shiya, which placed it at #25,851 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
#25,851
National first-name rank
People counted
364
364 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
30.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shiya
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shiya is White at 30.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.9%) and Black (28.3%). 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 Shiya 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 Shiya at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White30.8% · 112
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.9% · 109
- Black or African American28.3% · 103
- Two or more races6.6% · 24
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 13
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Shiya
Shiya leans heavily female at 81.1% of total registrations, but 48 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Shiya as a male name
- Ranked #10,607 in 2021
- 7 male births in 2021
- Peak: 2008 (9 births)
Shiya as a female name
- Ranked #17,278 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shiya on both sides of the split. Of the 362 people counted with this name, 98 were male (27.1%) and 264 were female (72.9%).
Popularity
Shiya: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shiya 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 111 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
Shiya 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 Shiya during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shiyas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shiya
The name Shiya is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language originating in South Asia. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word "Shri," which means radiance, prosperity, or auspiciousness. The name Shiya can be traced back to ancient Hindu texts and scriptures, where it was often used as a name for deities or characters associated with divine qualities.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shiya is found in the Rig Veda, a sacred Hindu scripture dating back to around 1500 BCE. In the Rig Veda, the name Shiya is mentioned in connection with a character described as a celestial being or a divine personification of light and radiance.
In ancient Hindu mythology, Shiya was also the name of a beautiful apsara (celestial nymph) who was known for her extraordinary beauty and grace. She is mentioned in the Puranas, which are ancient Hindu texts that narrate stories and legends about the creation, preservation, and destruction of the universe.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Shiya. One of the earliest recorded examples is Shiya, a renowned Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived in the 5th century CE. He made significant contributions to the field of astronomy and is credited with developing a method for calculating the circumference of the Earth.
In the 10th century, Shiya was the name of a prominent Chola king who ruled over parts of modern-day Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. He was known for his military conquests and for patronizing the arts and literature during his reign.
Another notable figure named Shiya was a 16th-century Mughal princess who was the daughter of the Mughal Emperor Akbar. She was known for her intelligence and her love for poetry and literature.
In more recent times, Shiya was the name of a renowned Indian classical dancer and choreographer who lived in the 20th century. She was instrumental in reviving and popularizing the ancient Indian dance form of Kathak.
Lastly, Shiya was also the name of a prominent Indian politician and social activist who fought for women's rights and played a significant role in the Indian independence movement in the early 20th century.
People
Shiya + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shiya 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
Shiya: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shiya?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 251 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shiya 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 1,365,555 US residents.
Is Shiya a common name?
We classify Shiya as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 254 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shiya most popular?
The single biggest year for Shiya was 2015, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shiya is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shiya in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 364 people with the name Shiya, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,851 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 Shiya 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 Shiya?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shiya on both sides of the split. Of the 362 people counted with this name, 98 were male (27.1%) and 264 were female (72.9%). 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 Shiya?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shiya is White at 30.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.9%) and Black (28.3%). 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 Shiya most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shiya in the 2020 Census, accounting for 30.8% (112 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 Shiya in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shiya a female name?
Yes, 81.1% of people registered as Shiya 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 Shiya still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shiya 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 Shiya 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 common is the name Shiya?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.