# Shirley (surname)

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

An English habitational surname

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 27,224 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,292 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 11,341 people |
| Change since 2000 | -0.3% (27,300 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈʃɜː(ɹ)li/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | Sherley, Shurley |

## Etymology

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

## Who carries it

Share of people named Shirley 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) | 83% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 9.1% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.2% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 3.3% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

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

## People named Shirley

- Anne Shirley, American actress (1918–1993)
- Don Shirley, American-Jamaican jazz pianist and composer
- Steve Shirley, British businesswoman and philanthropist (1933–2025)
- Dorothy Shirley, British athlete
- John Shirley, American writer, screenwriter and musician
- Bill Shirley, American actor, singer, Broadway theatre producer (1921-1989)
- George Shirley, American tenor
- Paul Shirley, American basketball player (born 1977)

## Similar surnames

Sherrill, Sorrell, Searle, Sherrell, Suriel, Schroll.

## 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.