# Shirley (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/shirley/  
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 | “county”, “meadow”, “lea” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɜː(ɹ)li/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | Shirl |
| Variant spellings | Sherley, Shurley, Shelley, Sheryl |
| US babies named this | 695,934 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 9,551 / 686,383 (99% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 261, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

English place name from Old English sċīr (“county”) + lēah (“meadow”). Equivalent to shire + -ley (“lea”). More at shire, leigh.

## 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 | 188 | 1,270 |
| 2012 | 176 | 1,338 |
| 2013 | 174 | 1,346 |
| 2014 | 202 | 1,213 |
| 2015 | 181 | 1,314 |
| 2016 | 168 | 1,393 |
| 2017 | 185 | 1,279 |
| 2018 | 152 | 1,450 |
| 2019 | 148 | 1,488 |
| 2020 | 137 | 1,550 |
| 2021 | 105 | 1,894 |
| 2022 | 134 | 1,588 |
| 2023 | 139 | 1,539 |
| 2024 | 151 | 1,455 |
| 2025 | 133 | 1,586 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 12 | 3,099 |
| 1975 | 6 | 5,358 |
| 1976 | 12 | 3,237 |
| 1978 | 9 | 4,118 |
| 1979 | 7 | 5,283 |
| 1980 | 8 | 4,875 |
| 1982 | 7 | 5,537 |
| 1983 | 10 | 4,103 |
| 1984 | 5 | 7,172 |
| 1985 | 5 | 7,430 |
| 1986 | 5 | 7,671 |
| 1987 | 6 | 6,819 |
| 1988 | 6 | 7,118 |
| 1992 | 5 | 9,606 |
| 1993 | 7 | 7,504 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 8 | 2,843 |
| 2011 | 7 | 3,185 |
| 2012 | 10 | 2,521 |
| 2014 | 6 | 3,514 |
| 2015 | 7 | 3,252 |
| 2016 | 12 | 2,233 |
| 2017 | 6 | 3,583 |
| 2018 | 7 | 3,178 |
| 2019 | 3 | 5,591 |
| 2020 | 8 | 2,843 |
| 2021 | 3 | 5,581 |
| 2022 | 7 | 3,148 |
| 2023 | 7 | 3,218 |
| 2024 | 8 | 3,015 |
| 2025 | 5 | 4,201 |

## People named Shirley

- Shirley Temple, American actress and diplomat (1928–2014)
- Shirley MacLaine, American actress
- Shirley Chisholm, first black woman elected to the United States Congress (1924-2005)
- Shirley Booth, American actress (1898–1992)
- Shirley Jones, American singer and actress
- Shirley Jackson, American writer (1916-1965)
- Shirley Knight, American actress (1936-2020)
- Shirley Henderson, British actress
- Shirley Ann Jackson, American physicist (born 1946)
- Shirley Strickland, Australian hurdler and sprinter
- Shirley Williams, British politician and academic (1930–2021)
- Shirley Fry, American tennis and badminton player (1927–2021)

## 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.