# Shelton (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/shelton/  
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 | boys |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “deck”, “shelf”, “town” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɛltən/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 12,145 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 11,973 / 172 (1% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 14, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From Old English scylfe (“deck, shelf”) + tun (“town”). Doublet of Skelton.

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 1987 | 5 | 12,951 |
| 1989 | 5 | 14,207 |
| 1991 | 5 | 15,054 |
| 1993 | 7 | 11,611 |
| 1994 | 8 | 10,402 |
| 1995 | 6 | 13,144 |
| 1996 | 7 | 11,617 |
| 1997 | 9 | 9,686 |
| 1998 | 8 | 10,988 |
| 2000 | 8 | 11,632 |
| 2001 | 7 | 13,267 |
| 2002 | 6 | 15,117 |
| 2007 | 6 | 17,298 |
| 2008 | 5 | 20,032 |
| 2013 | 5 | 18,877 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 73 | 1,920 |
| 2012 | 62 | 2,169 |
| 2013 | 58 | 2,247 |
| 2014 | 55 | 2,367 |
| 2015 | 62 | 2,206 |
| 2016 | 40 | 2,981 |
| 2017 | 47 | 2,666 |
| 2018 | 25 | 4,200 |
| 2019 | 31 | 3,624 |
| 2020 | 32 | 3,479 |
| 2021 | 29 | 3,805 |
| 2022 | 24 | 4,417 |
| 2023 | 25 | 4,321 |
| 2024 | 21 | 4,856 |
| 2025 | 21 | 4,837 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2004 | 4 | 3,009 |
| 2005 | 7 | 2,174 |
| 2007 | 3 | 4,333 |

## People named Shelton

- Shelton Benjamin, American professional wrestler
- Shelton Fabre, Catholic archbishop
- Shelton Brooks, Canadian-born African American composer of popular music and jazz
- Shelton Martis, Dutch footballer
- Shelton Jones, American basketball player (born 1966)

## 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.