Recorded 1979–2012 Girls' name Peak 1998 279 births

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.

1970s61980s671990s962000s942010s16

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
1990s
Peak decade

34% of everyone ever named Sheala was born in this single decade.

1998
Single peak year

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 2012

Total births

279

Since 1979

34 years of records

Peak year

1998

16 births that year

Strongest decade: 1990s

Current rank

Unranked

Outside the modern top-1,000

As of 2012

Active since

1979

Recorded for 34 years

Last year on file: 2012

Sheala popularity over time

Annual U.S. births registered with the Social Security Administration · 2012–1979

Last recorded 2012
Peak year (1998)
16
Annual births at peak — across 34 years of records
05101520 201220072003199919951991198719821979 6

Sheala by decade

Total births in each ten-year window — peak vs trough at a glance

Peak: 1990s
Peak decade
1990s
96 births that decade — 34% of Sheala's all-time total
1970s61980s671990s962000s942010s16

Frequently Asked Questions

How popular is the name Sheala?
279 babies have been named Sheala since 1979. It was last recorded in 2012. The peak year was 1998 with 16 births.
When was Sheala most popular?
Sheala was most popular in the 1990s decade with 96 total births. The single peak year was 1998.
How long has the name Sheala been used?
Sheala has been recorded in Social Security data since 1979, spanning 34 years of data through 2012.
What names are similar to Sheala?
Names with a similar sound or spelling include Sheila, Sherry, Shelby, Shelly, and 4 more. These share a common prefix and are also used for girls.

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.