# Sheldon (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/sheldon/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English from the placename.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 19,339 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,855 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 15,965 people |
| Change since 2000 | +0.5% (19,246 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɛldən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From Old English scylf (“shelf”) + dūn (“hill”) or denu (“valley”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Sheldon in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.8% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Sheldon in the United States and the United Kingdom.

## People named Sheldon

- Sidney Sheldon, American writer (1917–2007)
- Alice Bradley Sheldon, American science fiction writer (1915–1987)
- Richard Sheldon, American shot put and discus Olympian (1878-1935)
- George Sheldon, American diver (1874–1907)
- Lewis Sheldon, American triple jumper (1874–1960)
- Gene Sheldon, American actor (1908-1982)
- Jack Sheldon, American trumpeter, singer, and actor (1931–2019)
- Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury; Bishop of London (1598-1677)
- William Herbert Sheldon, American psychologist (1898-1977)
- George Sheldon, American tennis player
- Barbara Sheldon, actress (1912-2007)
- Edward Sheldon, American dramatist

and 2 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Shelton, Shelden, Skelton, Seldon, Selden, Saldana, Slayton, Slaton, Sultana, Sultan, Scholten, Saladino.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.