# Shelley (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/shelley/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “clearing on a bank” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɛli/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Shelly |
| US babies named this | 74,339 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 1,753 / 72,586 (98% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 389, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English, meaning "clearing on a bank".

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 26 | 5,338 |
| 2012 | 17 | 7,415 |
| 2013 | 16 | 7,698 |
| 2014 | 21 | 6,181 |
| 2015 | 13 | 8,877 |
| 2016 | 17 | 7,193 |
| 2017 | 12 | 9,269 |
| 2018 | 12 | 9,074 |
| 2019 | 12 | 9,038 |
| 2020 | 15 | 7,520 |
| 2021 | 11 | 9,457 |
| 2022 | 7 | 13,381 |
| 2023 | 9 | 11,051 |
| 2024 | 11 | 9,470 |
| 2025 | 13 | 8,280 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 16 | 2,937 |
| 1981 | 10 | 4,106 |
| 1982 | 11 | 3,914 |
| 1983 | 6 | 6,109 |
| 1984 | 7 | 5,489 |
| 1985 | 9 | 4,640 |
| 1986 | 8 | 5,259 |
| 1987 | 5 | 7,959 |
| 1988 | 6 | 7,115 |
| 1989 | 6 | 7,765 |
| 1990 | 6 | 7,966 |
| 1991 | 5 | 9,413 |
| 1995 | 10 | 5,844 |
| 1998 | 10 | 6,225 |
| 2001 | 5 | 12,037 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 18 | 1,107 |
| 2002 | 20 | 1,066 |
| 2003 | 24 | 996 |
| 2004 | 19 | 1,209 |
| 2005 | 10 | 2,084 |
| 2006 | 6 | 3,116 |
| 2007 | 11 | 2,085 |
| 2008 | 5 | 3,860 |
| 2009 | 7 | 3,031 |
| 2010 | 6 | 3,533 |
| 2011 | 6 | 3,549 |
| 2012 | 5 | 4,171 |
| 2015 | 3 | 5,730 |
| 2020 | 3 | 5,493 |
| 2024 | 3 | 5,891 |

## People named Shelley

- Shelley Duvall, American actress (1949–2024)
- Shelley Winters, American actress (1920–2006)
- Shelley Long, American actress and comedian (born 1949)
- Shelley Hennig, American actress and model (born 1987)
- Shelley Fabares, actress, singer
- Shelley Conn, British actress
- Shelley Morrison, American actress (1936–2019)
- Shelley Hack, American actress
- Shelley Lubben, author, singer, motivational speaker, and former pornographic actress (1968-2019)
- Shelley Berman, American comedian, actor, writer, and teacher (1925–2017)
- Shelley Mann, American swimmer (1937–2005)
- Shelley Berkley, American politician and attorney

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.