# Shay (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/shay/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname from Irish.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Irish |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 9,212 |
| US rank (2010) | 3,843 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 33,516 people |
| Change since 2000 | -1.0% (9,302 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Variant of Shea, from Irish Ó Séaghdha.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shay in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 89% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 2.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 3.2% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 2.1% |
| Two or more races | 1.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shay in the United States.

## People named Shay

- Mildred Shay, American actress (1911-2005)
- Ephraim Shay, American railroad engineer
- Charles Norman Shay, American writer and veteran from World War II and the Korean War
- Brek Shea, American soccer player

## Similar surnames

Shaw, Shah, Shea, Shao, Shuey, Shy, Sha, Seay, Say, Sá, Saye, Su.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.