How Many People Are Named Shirley?
people named Shirley are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 1,108 people in the US has this name
Based on 695,934 babies named Shirley in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
⭐ Uncommon
Peak Year
42,801 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
From a surname which was originally derived from a place name meaning "bright clearing" in Old English. This is the name of the main character in Charlotte Brontë's semi-autobiographical novel 'Shirley' (1849). The child actress Shirley Temple (1928-2014) helped to popularize this name.
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Shirley, 99.4% were girls and 0.6% were boys. The share of girls among babies named Shirley rose from 59.5% in the 1880s to 100% in the 2020s.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Shirley alive today is about 74 years old, and 89% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 68 and 84 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Shirley first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1935, to 42,801 babies. In 2025, 133 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Shirley reached #2 among girls' names in 1935 to 1936, and was in the top 10 in 14 years between 1927 and 1941. In 2025 it ranked #1,586.
| Girls | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,586 |
| Best rank | #2 (1935 to 1936) |
| Years in the top 10 | 14 |
| Years in the top 100 | 46 (1918 to 1963) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #4 in the 1930s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Shirley alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Shirley were born in Texas than in any other state: about 17,645 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Shirley was given about 1.4 times as often in Virginia, Vermont and Wyoming.
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