Shy
#12,984 in 2025UnisexGirls' nameBoys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Shy has been given to 478 babies in the U.S. since 1973. In 2025 it ranked #12,984 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1997, with 32 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 89% girls, 11% boys all-time.
Babies named Shy, 2025
1 in 474,000
Shy over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.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 — Shy over time
In 2025, Shy went to 100% girls and 0% boys.
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.
How common is Shy?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 474,000
- 7 of 3,315,165 births
- Among girls only
- 1 in 230,000
- <0.01% of girls
- Rank, 2025
- #12,984
- of 17,293 girls’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 328,272 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Shy sits on the popularity scale
Chance at least one other child shares the name
If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.
Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shy. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Shys were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Shy was born before 2001 — so the typical Shy is around 24 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2000s
- 33.7% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 51.8%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 427
- People you could plausibly meet
2000s — 33.7% of all recorded uses (144).
Is Shy 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
- +4,183
- Places climbed
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −139
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.88×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 21.9%
- Peak was 1997 (32)
- Years since peak
- 28
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Volatile
- 32.9% average annual change
Shy around the world
Where Shy 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 & Wales2013–2013#5,742in 2013
- South Australia2002–2002#730in 2002
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.
Shy by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
As a girl's name
Names similar to Shy
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Shy
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.