Name Awesome

Shi

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Time, era, season

Shi has been given to 412 babies in the U.S. since 1974. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 2001, with 19 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 81% girls, 19% boys all-time.

Babies named Shi, 2022

1 in 564,000

Shi over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Shi over time

In 2022, Shi went to 100% girls and 0% boys.

19742022

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Shi: meaning, origin, and history

Time, era, season

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shi means

Shi means “time, era, season”.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Shi is used in Chinese.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ʂɻ̩/ for Shi.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 332 girls were recorded with the name Shi between 1974 and 2022. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2001; its best national rank was #5,450 in 1975.

In the United States, 80 boys were recorded with the name Shi between 1980 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 11 in 2015; its best national rank was #6,330 in 1995.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Shi?

Shi had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2022, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2022
1 in 564,000
6 of 3,385,755 births
Among girls only
1 in 273,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2022
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
391,139 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shi sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2022 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 391,139 children born in 2022 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shi. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shis were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shi was born before 1999 — so the typical Shi is around 26 today.

Median birth year
1999
About 26 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
34.6% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
55.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
332
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 34.6% of all recorded uses (115).

Is Shi rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 2001 (19)
Years since peak
24
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,450
1975

Where Shi is used

Across 1910–2025, Shi was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 2,084,400 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Shi has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shi around the world

Where Shi ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2000–2016
    #3,214
    in 2016
  • Scotland
    2007–2009
    #783
    in 2009
  • Ireland
    2013–2013
    #894
    in 2013
  • Canada
    1996–2012
    #3,249
    in 2012
  • South Australia
    2005–2011
    #840
    in 2011

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Shi by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,450
1975
Peak year
2001
19 that year
First recorded
1974
Last recorded
2022
All-time count
332
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#6,330
1995
Peak year
2015
11 that year
First recorded
1980
Last recorded
2015
All-time count
80
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Shi

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

ShirShifaShineShiriShiaShizaShivanshiShirelShiahShioriShivaShianShinaShirinTashiShiloShiyaShilahAnshiArshiShiaraAashiShivyaKushi

Sibling names for Shi

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Shi

Top names of 2001, Shi's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1975Girls' names starting with S