Shad
A boys’ name with no widely documented etymology — one syllable, given to 6 babies a year in England and Wales.
Shad by the numbers
In 2025, 6 babies in England and Wales were named Shad. In the US, 14 were, though that figure is from 2017, the most recent full year we hold.
For the size of the two countries, it is given noticeably more often in England and Wales than in the US.
Its American peak was 406 babies in 1971, so it is a 1970s name that has since fallen a long way.
What we can tell you about Shad
Not every name has a meaning to trace. Plenty are coined rather than inherited — invented outright, blended from two names, or respelled from an older one — and where we cannot find an etymology we can stand behind, we would rather say so than make one up. What follows comes from the birth records themselves.
Spelled almost the same
Other names in the records within a letter or two of Shad. Close spellings are not always related names, but they are usually worth seeing together.
- Shayhawk-like or gift; a form of Séaghdha73 in England and Wales (2025)
- Shaigift100 in the US (2017)
- Saadfortunate; happy; prosperous41 in England and Wales (2025)
- Shahking or ruler; from Old Persian khshayathiya31 in England and Wales (2025)
- Shawthicket or small wood28 in the US (2017)
- Shadeshadow; shade; darkness20 in the US (2017)
Sounds like Shad
Names that are said the same way as Shad, however they are written. Sounding alike does not mean they share a history.
Names about as common as Shad
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