Sharlene
Sharlene was given to 9 girls in 2025, #10,784 among girls’ names; 12,175 Americans have been recorded with it since 1917 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,360 Americans named Sharlene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (77% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 47 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sharlene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sharlene mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sharlene is “a female given name from the Germanic languages, variant of Charlene.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sharlene?
#10,784 among girls’ names, 2025
Sharlene fell from #5,805 in 2015 to #10,784 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 12.9 to 5.6 per million.
380 babies in 1956, the peak
Sharlene peaked in 1956, when 380 girls were given it, #480 among girls’ names. The 9 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9 | #10,784 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,996 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 6 | #14,911 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 13 | #8,456 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 11 | #9,449 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 17 | #6,880 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 14 | #8,074 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 19 | #6,483 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 22 | #5,794 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 29 | #4,829 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (106)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 23 | #5,805 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 15 | #8,002 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 29 | #4,867 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 28 | #5,088 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 22 | #6,114 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 40 | #3,879 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 40 | #3,935 | 0.02 |
| 2008 | 38 | #4,159 | 0.02 |
| 2007 | 54 | #3,207 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 57 | #3,015 | 0.03 |
| 2005 | 35 | #4,102 | 0.02 |
| 2004 | 37 | #3,885 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 30 | #4,396 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 32 | #4,054 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 34 | #3,852 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 39 | #3,444 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 41 | #3,179 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 34 | #3,554 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 47 | #2,689 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 60 | #2,245 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 60 | #2,234 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 73 | #1,942 | 0.04 |
| 1993 | 62 | #2,167 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 68 | #2,020 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 83 | #1,741 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 93 | #1,611 | 0.05 |
| 1989 | 86 | #1,622 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 89 | #1,518 | 0.05 |
| 1987 | 84 | #1,527 | 0.05 |
| 1986 | 107 | #1,269 | 0.06 |
| 1985 | 103 | #1,305 | 0.06 |
| 1984 | 117 | #1,166 | 0.07 |
| 1983 | 105 | #1,218 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 94 | #1,334 | 0.06 |
| 1981 | 105 | #1,246 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 81 | #1,491 | 0.05 |
| 1979 | 105 | #1,235 | 0.07 |
| 1978 | 76 | #1,501 | 0.05 |
| 1977 | 128 | #1,039 | 0.08 |
| 1976 | 132 | #970 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 105 | #1,117 | 0.07 |
| 1974 | 111 | #1,069 | 0.08 |
| 1973 | 109 | #1,064 | 0.07 |
| 1972 | 152 | #854 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 189 | #771 | 0.11 |
| 1970 | 207 | #725 | 0.12 |
| 1969 | 218 | #675 | 0.13 |
| 1968 | 203 | #683 | 0.12 |
| 1967 | 262 | #591 | 0.16 |
| 1966 | 287 | #561 | 0.17 |
| 1965 | 223 | #659 | 0.13 |
| 1964 | 308 | #560 | 0.16 |
| 1963 | 270 | #613 | 0.14 |
| 1962 | 218 | #701 | 0.11 |
| 1961 | 227 | #696 | 0.11 |
| 1960 | 246 | #645 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 214 | #686 | 0.11 |
| 1958 | 293 | #582 | 0.15 |
| 1957 | 312 | #542 | 0.15 |
| 1956 | 380 | #480 | 0.19 |
| 1955 | 246 | #585 | 0.13 |
| 1954 | 305 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1953 | 328 | #474 | 0.17 |
| 1952 | 284 | #497 | 0.15 |
| 1951 | 275 | #493 | 0.15 |
| 1950 | 256 | #505 | 0.15 |
| 1949 | 302 | #461 | 0.18 |
| 1948 | 248 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1947 | 255 | #524 | 0.14 |
| 1946 | 222 | #528 | 0.14 |
| 1945 | 226 | #480 | 0.17 |
| 1944 | 172 | #555 | 0.13 |
| 1943 | 154 | #611 | 0.11 |
| 1942 | 129 | #661 | 0.10 |
| 1941 | 143 | #586 | 0.12 |
| 1940 | 149 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1939 | 139 | #571 | 0.13 |
| 1938 | 168 | #522 | 0.15 |
| 1937 | 142 | #572 | 0.13 |
| 1936 | 176 | #487 | 0.17 |
| 1935 | 182 | #473 | 0.17 |
| 1934 | 113 | #628 | 0.11 |
| 1933 | 92 | #680 | 0.09 |
| 1932 | 38 | #1,173 | 0.04 |
| 1931 | 37 | #1,196 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 33 | #1,343 | 0.03 |
| 1929 | 24 | #1,635 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 15 | #2,365 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,530 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #4,248 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,884 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,380 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,315 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 5 | #5,751 | under 0.01 |
| 1920 | 8 | #3,905 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 5 | #5,223 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sharlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sharlene has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 106 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Sharlene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sharlene, and how old are they?
9,360 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 77% of the 12,175 Americans ever recorded as Sharlene. The median Sharlene alive today is 62 years old; half are between 47 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 10,243 people named Sharlene (10,241 women and girls, 2 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,117 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 789 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,020 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 2,380 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,350 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 601 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 214 |
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 Sharlene born?
The states with the most babies named Sharlene are California, New York and Michigan, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1,523 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| New York | 1,066 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 614 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 447 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 426 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 417 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Utah | 339 | not ranked | 3.6× |
| Texas | 317 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Florida | 226 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Wisconsin | 188 | not ranked | 0.7× |
Where Sharlene is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sharlene is most over-represented in Utah: since 1917 it was given 3.6 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
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 Sharlene 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 4 names spelled alike, given to 12,813 babies since 1880, Sharlene is the most given (95% of them).
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 Sharlene
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 Sharlene and names like it
- Compare Sharlene and SharlineBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sSharlene peaked in 1956.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sharlene since 1910.
- The top names of 1956The year the most babies were named Sharlene.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sharlene alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.