# Shelley (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/shelley/  
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.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 14,300 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,533 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 21,591 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.2% (13,995 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɛli/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Shelly |

## Etymology

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

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shelley 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) | 85% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.7% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.0% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 1.7% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Shelley in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

## People named Shelley

- Barbara Shelley, British actress (1932-2021)
- Carole Shelley, British actress (1939-2018)
- Steve Shelley, Alternative rock drummer
- Michael Shelley, Australian marathon runner
- John Shelley, American politician (1905–1974)
- Bruce Shelley, American video game designer

## Similar surnames

Shell, Shull, Shelly, Shealy, Sheely, Sheeley, Sheley, Shealey, Schell, Seeley, Sell, Skelly.

## 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.