Shai
Hebrew for "gift", from the word שי, the same tribute Psalm 68 says the nations brought. Barely 180 people in Poland carry it, split across boys and girls alike, so most Poles have never met one.
Shai Pronunciation
What Shai means
Where Shai comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Shai begins as a plain Hebrew word. שי means a gift, something handed from one person to another. The word appears in the Hebrew Bible, in Psalm 68, where nations are said to bring tribute. In Polish the meaning is dar.
Among Jewish families the name held onto that sense. Shai suits a boy or a girl. It carries no separate diminutive, and no altered form marks one gender against the other. A child is simply Shai.
Picture a Polish class register. The name sits short beside Katarzyna and Krzysztof. Four letters. A teacher reading down the list reaches the end of it fast, then moves on.
The Hebrew word underneath does not shift. Whoever answers to it answers to a gift, a dar.
How many people are named Shai
1 in 166767 men in Poland is named Shai. 182 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #2359 among male names.
Shai as a middle name
Shai is a first name for 182 men in Poland and a middle name for another 16, a 92/8 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 2348th, between Seli̇m (16) and Shraga (16).
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#2346 Sekhar16
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#2347 Seli̇m16
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#2348 Shai16
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#2349 Shraga16
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#2350 Simeon16