Shala
Shala was last recorded in 2012, when 6 babies were given it; 2,061 Americans have been recorded with it between 1947 and 2012 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,980 Americans named Shala and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 39 years old and half are between 33 and 47.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shala by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shala?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #16,533, in 2012; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
89 babies in 1991, the peak
Shala peaked in 1991, when 89 girls were given it, #1,669 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 6 | #16,533 | 3.4 |
| 2011 | 10 | #11,065 | 5.7 |
| 2010 | 5 | #19,381 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 10 | #11,337 | 5.4 |
| 2008 | 12 | #9,979 | 6.3 |
| 2007 | 15 | #8,453 | 7.8 |
| 2006 | 20 | #6,564 | 10.5 |
| 2005 | 12 | #9,356 | 6.5 |
| 2004 | 21 | #5,933 | 11.4 |
| 2003 | 13 | #8,404 | 7.1 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | 22 | #5,413 | 12.2 |
| 2001 | 33 | #3,922 | 18.3 |
| 2000 | 35 | #3,713 | 19.3 |
| 1999 | 37 | #3,427 | 20.9 |
| 1998 | 42 | #3,059 | 23.8 |
| 1997 | 38 | #3,144 | 21.8 |
| 1996 | 51 | #2,501 | 29.1 |
| 1995 | 52 | #2,473 | 29.6 |
| 1994 | 67 | #2,073 | 37.5 |
| 1993 | 63 | #2,141 | 34.8 |
| 1992 | 65 | #2,094 | 35.3 |
| 1991 | 89 | #1,669 | 47.5 |
| 1990 | 75 | #1,884 | 39.5 |
| 1989 | 81 | #1,695 | 43.9 |
| 1988 | 84 | #1,572 | 47.2 |
| 1987 | 64 | #1,831 | 36.8 |
| 1986 | 60 | #1,880 | 35.0 |
| 1985 | 80 | #1,533 | 46.5 |
| 1984 | 65 | #1,696 | 38.6 |
| 1983 | 67 | #1,662 | 40.1 |
| 1982 | 50 | #2,075 | 29.5 |
| 1981 | 50 | #2,080 | 30.0 |
| 1980 | 69 | #1,672 | 41.6 |
| 1979 | 62 | #1,763 | 38.6 |
| 1978 | 68 | #1,592 | 44.4 |
| 1977 | 70 | #1,556 | 45.7 |
| 1976 | 41 | #2,128 | 28.0 |
| 1975 | 48 | #1,899 | 32.9 |
| 1974 | 49 | #1,816 | 33.4 |
| 1973 | 51 | #1,749 | 35.0 |
| 1972 | 29 | #2,503 | 19.1 |
| 1971 | 36 | #2,236 | 21.6 |
| 1970 | 15 | #4,006 | 8.6 |
| 1969 | 11 | #4,673 | 6.5 |
| 1968 | 12 | #4,179 | 7.3 |
| 1967 | 11 | #4,251 | 6.7 |
| 1966 | 10 | #4,431 | 5.9 |
| 1965 | 13 | #3,699 | 7.4 |
| 1964 | 8 | #5,383 | 4.2 |
| 1963 | 14 | #3,605 | 7.3 |
| 1962 | 12 | #3,972 | 6.1 |
| 1961 | 6 | #6,431 | 3.0 |
| 1960 | 5 | #7,135 | 2.5 |
| 1958 | 9 | #4,453 | 4.5 |
| 1957 | 6 | #5,963 | 2.9 |
| 1956 | 6 | #5,848 | 3.0 |
| 1947 | 6 | #5,207 | 3.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shala a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shala has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 57 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shala: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shala, and how old are they?
1,980 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,061 Americans ever recorded as Shala. The median Shala alive today is 39 years old; half are between 33 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 2,003 people named Shala (1,980 women and girls, 23 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,002 born in the U.S. The Census count matches that prediction to within 1%.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 60 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 559 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,030 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 327 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Shala born?
The states with the most babies named Shala are Texas, California and Ohio, with 62% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 105 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| California | 80 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Ohio | 55 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 31 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Florida | 30 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Kansas | 15 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Georgia | 13 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Louisiana | 12 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Oklahoma | 11 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Arkansas | 6 | not ranked | 0.3× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Shala with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 40,724 babies since 1880, Shala is the third most given (5.1% of them). In 2025 none of their 152 babies recorded by SSA was a Shala (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Shala
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Shala and names like it
- Compare Shala and ShaylaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sShala peaked in 1991.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shala since 1910.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Shala.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Shala alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.