Shi: meaning, origin & popularity

Meaning & origin

Where it comes from

Shi comes from Mandarin.

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1974. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Shi through the years

Babies since 1880: 412; 80 boys · 332 girls
Most popular year: 2001; 28 babies
2025: 0; Outside the ranked list
2021–25 vs 2016–20: —; Too few births to compare

Boys Girls

Shi in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1974–2025, per million births of each sex. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 6 in 2022. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 19 in 2001. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 2,298 as a first name in 2020; 17,207 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Shi’s family of names

In Filipino usage, Shi as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with SEE. In Japanese usage, Shi is a Roman-alphabet rendering of 志. In English usage, Shi as a surname has a related form in SHIH.

Walk Shi’s family in the name graph

Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Around the world

Shi has relatives in 4 languages. Lines run from its Chinese roots to each of them.

6 related names in 4 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.

Each dot marks where a language is rooted, not where people with the name live today. Bigger dots hold more names. Dots on the border stand for languages further away. Language locations from Glottolog (CC BY 4.0); map from Natural Earth.

Nicknames & forms 2

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

Spellings & scripts 2

The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.

Across languages 21

Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.

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People named Shi

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Shi, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

Chinese · Modern

Sibling ideas

Names that share Shi’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Shi

A sister for Shi

Your shortlist

Shi