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Shi

Girl name · 9 babies recorded · 1974–2025

Shi: 9 babies born in Scotland since 1974, given to girls, peaking at 3 births in 2007.

Shi has its roots in Mandarin Chinese, where it can stem from several characters – 石 meaning “stone,” 史 meaning “history,” or 诗 meaning “poetry” – making the name’s meaning fluid depending on the family’s preferred character. Perhaps the most internationally recognised bearer is Shi Pei Pu, the Chinese opera singer whose life inspired the play and film *M. Butterfly*. While no major place is directly named after a single Shi, the character 石 (stone) appears in countless Chinese place names and also carries the same meaning in Japanese and Korean. A notable variant is Shih, an older romanisation common in Taiwan, and the name’s single syllable and crisp sound make it a rare but striking choice in Scotland, where it has appeared on birth records in very small numbers since the 1980s.