Name Awesome

Shyam

#10,516 in 2025Boys' name

Black, dark, through श्याम

Shyam has been given to 754 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #10,516 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2005, with 34 recorded.

Babies named Shyam, 2025

1 in 474,000

Shyam over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Shyam: meaning, origin, and history

Black, dark, through श्याम

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Shyam means

Shyam belongs to the name family reached through Shyam → श्याम. Its meaning is “black, dark”.

Origin, language, and formation

Shyam is used in English.

Shyam comes through Sanskrit श्याम.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include श्याम.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 754 boys were recorded with the name Shyam between 1971 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 34 in 2005; its best national rank was #2,762 in 1993.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #7,959 in 2020 to #10,516 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,433 in 2015 to #10,516 in 2025.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Shyam?

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 boys only
1 in 244,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#10,516
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
328,272 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Shyam sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

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.

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

Put another way: gather 328,272 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Shyam. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Shyams were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Shyam was born before 2001 — so the typical Shyam is around 24 today.

Median birth year
2001
About 24 years old
Biggest decade
2000s
32.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
50.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
754
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2000s — 32.0% of all recorded uses (241).

Is Shyam 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
+246
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
−2,557
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−1,083
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.88×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
20.6%
Peak was 2005 (34)
Years since peak
20
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
30.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,762
1993

Spellings of Shyam

Shyam is not the most common spelling — Sam is, with 74.6% against Shyam's 0.44%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Shyam is used

Across 1910–2025, Shyam was most concentrated in New Jersey — about 1 in 100,000 boys, against 1 in 739,761 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New Jersey1 in 100,000
  2. 2California1 in —
  3. 3New York1 in —
  4. 4Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys 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. Shyam has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Shyam around the world

Where Shyam 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
    1996–2024
    #3,255
    in 2024
  • France
    2010–2021
    #6,546
    in 2021
  • Canada
    1991–2000
    #2,026
    in 2000
  • South Australia
    1981–2005
    #643
    in 2005

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Shyam by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#10,516
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 2,557
Best rank ever
#2,762
1993
Peak year
2005
34 that year
First recorded
1971
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
754
Count in 2025
7

Names similar to Shyam

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

ShyneShyloShyheimShylohNiyamBrayamLyamShyheemAayamPayamShylerShyonLiyamShymirShyhiemShyanDivyamShyquanShyronBryamNeteyamShykeemShyAryam

Sibling names for Shyam

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 Shyam

Top names of 2005, Shyam's peak yearThe 2000s in fullOther names that peaked in 1993Boys' names starting with S