Sheala — girls' name
279 babies named Sheala in U.S. Social Security records since 1979, with the highest year being 1998. Year-by-year trend, decade aggregates, and state-level rankings drawn from federal birth data.
The verdict
279 girls have been named Sheala since 1979, peaking in the 1990s, last recorded in 2012.
- 279
- total births
- 1979–2012
- years on record
- 1990s
- peak decade
- 34%
- born in that decade
34% of everyone ever named Sheala was born in this single decade.
16 babies were named Sheala in 1998 — its busiest year on record.
What the Data Says About Sheala
The Social Security Administration has registered 279 babies named Sheala between 1979 and 2012, spanning 34 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a girl's name, Sheala currently falls outside the top 1,000 girls' names for 2012. The name reached its historical peak in 1998, when 16 babies received it in a single year.
Decade-level aggregation shows that Sheala performed strongest in the 1990s, accumulating 96 births during that ten-year window. Across the 5 decades of recorded activity, Sheala shows a clear decline from its mid-century high.
No etymological entry is currently available for Sheala in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 279 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.
Sheala at a glance
Last recorded 2012Peak year
Current rank
Active since
Sheala popularity over time
Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2012–1979
- Peak year (1998)
- 16
- Annual births at peak — across 34 years of records
No longer in the modern top-1000 — last recorded 2012.
279 total births across 34 years of SSA records. Peaked in 1998 with 16 births in a single year.
Sheala by decade
Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance
- Peak decade
- 1990s
- 96 births that decade — 34% of Sheala's all-time total
Sheala decade highlights
- Peak decade 96 births
- Runner-up 94 births
- Modern era share 2010s + 2020s
- Decades tracked with recorded births
1990s was Sheala's strongest decade
96 babies received the name during that ten-year window — about 34% of all-time use.
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Data Sources
Data as of 2024. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA).
Primary: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names from Social Security Card Applications — National Data, 1979–2012 (ssa.gov/oact/babynames). National-level data includes all names with 5 or more occurrences in a given year.
State-level: Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, Baby Names — State-Level Files (namesbystate.zip). Includes all names with 5 or more occurrences per state per year; rarer names are excluded for privacy.