Recorded 1960–2025 · United States
Shia was most popular in 2024, when 225 American babies were given the name — ranking #2,069 that year. In 2025 it ranked #2,440, with 172 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 3,348 people named Shia.
Shia first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1960, which makes it about 65 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 40 of the 66 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 3,348 American births named Shia between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 3,316 are estimated to be alive today.
172 American babies were named Shia in 2025, ranking #2,440 that year.
Shia is rising. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 201 births a year, against 122 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of +65% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Shia is a unisex name — 32.6% of the 3,348 Americans given it were girls and 67.3% were boys. It changed hands: since 2009 it has gone mainly to boys, having gone mainly to girls before that. In births since 2016 it is 26% girls and 74% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 3,316 Americans named Shia are alive today — 99% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 11 years old, and half are between 5 and 17. That is a narrow band because Shia is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Shia on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org