Sheela
Sheela was last recorded in 2015, when 5 babies were given it; 679 Americans have been recorded with it between 1943 and 2015 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sheela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sheela mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sheela is “a female given name from Sanskrit of Indian origin.” Its etymology gives the sense “character, good conduct” (शील).
From Hindi शीला (śīlā), from Sanskrit शील (śīla, “character, good conduct”).
/ˈʃiːlə/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sheela?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #18,727, in 2015; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
27 babies in 1988, the peak
Sheela peaked in 1988, when 27 girls were given it, #3,565 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 5 | #18,727 | 2.8 |
| 2007 | 5 | #20,103 | 2.6 |
| 2003 | 6 | #15,465 | 3.3 |
| 2002 | 5 | #17,698 | 2.8 |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,216 | 4.0 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,496 | 2.9 |
| 1995 | 9 | #9,428 | 5.1 |
| 1994 | 11 | #8,047 | 6.2 |
| 1993 | 10 | #8,611 | 5.5 |
| 1992 | 6 | #13,100 | 3.3 |
Every recorded year (57)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 11 | #7,889 | 5.9 |
| 1990 | 15 | #6,088 | 7.9 |
| 1989 | 18 | #5,017 | 9.8 |
| 1988 | 27 | #3,565 | 15.2 |
| 1987 | 18 | #4,633 | 10.4 |
| 1986 | 25 | #3,535 | 14.6 |
| 1985 | 21 | #3,964 | 12.2 |
| 1984 | 20 | #3,965 | 11.9 |
| 1983 | 15 | #4,846 | 9.0 |
| 1982 | 12 | #5,845 | 7.1 |
| 1981 | 12 | #5,834 | 7.2 |
| 1980 | 15 | #4,940 | 9.0 |
| 1979 | 16 | #4,590 | 10.0 |
| 1978 | 19 | #3,894 | 12.4 |
| 1977 | 10 | #6,261 | 6.5 |
| 1976 | 11 | #5,533 | 7.5 |
| 1975 | 17 | #3,913 | 11.7 |
| 1974 | 9 | #6,162 | 6.1 |
| 1973 | 19 | #3,453 | 13.0 |
| 1972 | 15 | #4,051 | 9.9 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,499 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 14 | #4,216 | 8.0 |
| 1969 | 9 | #5,381 | 5.3 |
| 1968 | 13 | #3,963 | 7.9 |
| 1967 | 8 | #5,368 | 4.8 |
| 1966 | 13 | #3,709 | 7.7 |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,913 | 10.8 |
| 1964 | 11 | #4,310 | 5.8 |
| 1963 | 8 | #5,217 | 4.2 |
| 1962 | 16 | #3,274 | 8.1 |
| 1961 | 9 | #4,832 | 4.5 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,722 | 4.5 |
| 1959 | 19 | #2,743 | 9.4 |
| 1958 | 13 | #3,521 | 6.5 |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,278 | 6.8 |
| 1956 | 11 | #3,870 | 5.5 |
| 1955 | 5 | #6,569 | 2.6 |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,922 | 5.1 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,448 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 8 | #4,422 | 4.3 |
| 1951 | 6 | #5,328 | 3.3 |
| 1950 | 7 | #4,673 | 4.1 |
| 1949 | 8 | #4,186 | 4.7 |
| 1948 | 10 | #3,564 | 5.9 |
| 1947 | 7 | #4,705 | 3.9 |
| 1946 | 11 | #3,189 | 7.0 |
| 1943 | 7 | #4,138 | 5.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sheela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sheela 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 Sheela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sheela, and how old are they?
An estimated 611 Americans named Sheela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 49 years old and half are between 39 and 62. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 2,081 people named Sheela (2,075 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 631 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 389,509 babies since 1880, Sheela is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 164 babies recorded by SSA was a Sheela (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 Sheela
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 Sheela and names like it
- Compare Sheela and SheilaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sSheela peaked in 1988.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sheela since 1910.
- The top names of 1988The year the most babies were named Sheela.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Sheela alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.