Sheilah
Sheilah was last recorded in 2009, when 5 babies were given it; 2,285 Americans have been recorded with it between 1924 and 2009 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,770 Americans named Sheilah and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (78% of everyone recorded); the median is 68 years old and half are between 56 and 73.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sheilah by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Sheilah?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #19,770, in 2009; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
199 babies in 1955, the peak
Sheilah peaked in 1955, when 199 girls were given it, #663 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 5 | #19,770 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 7 | #15,237 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 7 | #13,257 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 6 | #14,730 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 6 | #13,851 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,403 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,586 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 9 | #9,417 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 9 | #9,379 | under 0.01 |
| 1991 | 9 | #9,225 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (68)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 7 | #11,202 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 5 | #14,189 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 11 | #7,038 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 11 | #6,717 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 14 | #5,416 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 14 | #5,306 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 8 | #8,024 | under 0.01 |
| 1983 | 10 | #6,629 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 11 | #6,297 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 11 | #6,240 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 12 | #5,850 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 18 | #4,198 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 28 | #2,924 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 22 | #3,465 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 31 | #2,594 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 30 | #2,605 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 23 | #3,087 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 24 | #2,900 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 26 | #2,730 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 31 | #2,468 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 46 | #1,900 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 39 | #2,020 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 20 | #2,955 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 42 | #1,818 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 37 | #1,907 | 0.02 |
| 1965 | 37 | #1,912 | 0.02 |
| 1964 | 53 | #1,575 | 0.03 |
| 1963 | 50 | #1,620 | 0.03 |
| 1962 | 49 | #1,624 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 32 | #2,110 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 57 | #1,464 | 0.03 |
| 1959 | 85 | #1,158 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 81 | #1,186 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 86 | #1,140 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 78 | #1,183 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 199 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1954 | 88 | #1,051 | 0.05 |
| 1953 | 82 | #1,068 | 0.04 |
| 1952 | 68 | #1,153 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 59 | #1,213 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 58 | #1,222 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 53 | #1,259 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 60 | #1,170 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 49 | #1,310 | 0.03 |
| 1946 | 45 | #1,302 | 0.03 |
| 1945 | 41 | #1,256 | 0.03 |
| 1944 | 33 | #1,428 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 39 | #1,318 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 29 | #1,552 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 37 | #1,265 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 28 | #1,466 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,559 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 16 | #2,101 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 28 | #1,412 | 0.03 |
| 1936 | 16 | #2,012 | 0.02 |
| 1935 | 17 | #1,991 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 11 | #2,711 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 5 | #5,778 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Sheilah a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sheilah has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 68 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Sheilah: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sheilah, and how old are they?
1,770 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 78% of the 2,285 Americans ever recorded as Sheilah. The median Sheilah alive today is 68 years old; half are between 56 and 73.
The 2020 Census counted 2,458 people named Sheilah (2,456 women and girls, 2 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,926 born in the U.S. The Census count is 28% above 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.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 134 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,040 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 430 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 140 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 31 |
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).
How common is the spelling Sheilah?
Sheilah is a less common spelling of Sheila: SSA has recorded 2,285 Sheilah and 239,422 Sheila since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 250,309 babies since 1880, Sheilah is the third most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 170 babies recorded by SSA was a Sheilah (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 Sheilah
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 Sheilah and names like it
- Compare Sheilah and SheilaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sSheilah peaked in 1955.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sheilah since 1910.
- The top names of 1955The year the most babies were named Sheilah.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sheilah alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.