Shelia
Shelia was last recorded in 2023, when 7 babies were given it; 47,891 Americans have been recorded with it between 1915 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 39,600 Americans named Shelia and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 64 years old and half are between 58 and 70.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shelia by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shelia mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shelia is “a female given name, variant of Sheila.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shelia?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,261, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
2,293 babies in 1959, the peak
Shelia peaked in 1959, when 2,293 babies were given it (2,283 girls, #170 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7 | #13,261 | under 0.01 |
| 2022 | 7 | #13,375 | under 0.01 |
| 2021 | 9 | #11,030 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 11 | #9,448 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 7 | #13,599 | under 0.01 |
| 2017 | 16 | #7,386 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 12 | #9,346 | 0.01 |
| 2015 | 11 | #10,052 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 10 | #10,827 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 8 | #12,982 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (107)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 8 | #13,285 | under 0.01 |
| 2011 | 8 | #13,175 | under 0.01 |
| 2010 | 13 | #9,149 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 19 | #7,025 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 12 | #9,984 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 12 | #10,047 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 16 | #7,804 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 13 | #8,792 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 28 | #4,796 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 14 | #7,928 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 22 | #5,415 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 28 | #4,426 | 0.02 |
| 2000 | 26 | #4,631 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 27 | #4,286 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 32 | #3,716 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 34 | #3,429 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 36 | #3,288 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 40 | #2,964 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 55 | #2,372 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 53 | #2,404 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 61 | #2,214 | 0.03 |
| 1991 | 84 | #1,733 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 82 | #1,774 | 0.04 |
| 1989 | 83 | #1,661 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 100 | #1,405 | 0.06 |
| 1987 | 106 | #1,310 | 0.06 |
| 1986 | 129 | #1,128 | 0.08 |
| 1985 | 124 | #1,156 | 0.07 |
| 1984 | 131 | #1,074 | 0.08 |
| 1983 | 121 | #1,119 | 0.07 |
| 1982 | 168 | #904 | 0.10 |
| 1981 | 173 | #883 | 0.10 |
| 1980 | 218 | #762 | 0.13 |
| 1979 | 228 | #729 | 0.14 |
| 1978 | 251 | #647 | 0.16 |
| 1977 | 284 | #602 | 0.19 |
| 1976 | 339 | #525 | 0.23 |
| 1975 | 450 | #441 | 0.31 |
| 1974 | 567 | #377 | 0.39 |
| 1973 | 691 | #325 | 0.47 |
| 1972 | 803 | #304 | 0.53 |
| 1971 | 1,037 | #276 | 0.62 |
| 1970 | 1,192 | #258 | 0.68 |
| 1969 | 1,304 | #232 | 0.77 |
| 1968 | 1,358 | #219 | 0.83 |
| 1967 | 1,476 | #208 | 0.89 |
| 1966 | 1,806 | #181 | 1.1 |
| 1965 | 1,892 | #182 | 1.1 |
| 1964 | 2,012 | #186 | 1.1 |
| 1963 | 2,064 | #185 | 1.1 |
| 1962 | 2,271 | #173 | 1.2 |
| 1961 | 2,005 | #189 | 1.0 |
| 1960 | 2,256 | #177 | 1.1 |
| 1959 | 2,283 | #170 | 1.1 |
| 1958 | 2,091 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1957 | 2,093 | #180 | 1.0 |
| 1956 | 1,946 | #183 | 1.0 |
| 1955 | 1,837 | #181 | 0.94 |
| 1954 | 1,665 | #190 | 0.86 |
| 1953 | 1,484 | #204 | 0.79 |
| 1952 | 1,236 | #223 | 0.67 |
| 1951 | 1,160 | #224 | 0.64 |
| 1950 | 957 | #242 | 0.56 |
| 1949 | 821 | #269 | 0.48 |
| 1948 | 795 | #274 | 0.47 |
| 1947 | 744 | #283 | 0.42 |
| 1946 | 550 | #315 | 0.35 |
| 1945 | 305 | #407 | 0.23 |
| 1944 | 219 | #486 | 0.17 |
| 1943 | 215 | #509 | 0.15 |
| 1942 | 152 | #604 | 0.11 |
| 1941 | 130 | #623 | 0.11 |
| 1940 | 82 | #785 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 72 | #817 | 0.07 |
| 1938 | 64 | #888 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 59 | #903 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 44 | #1,059 | 0.04 |
| 1935 | 43 | #1,069 | 0.04 |
| 1934 | 20 | #1,764 | 0.02 |
| 1933 | 27 | #1,439 | 0.03 |
| 1932 | 23 | #1,627 | 0.02 |
| 1931 | 22 | #1,674 | 0.02 |
| 1930 | 10 | #3,024 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 14 | #2,408 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 18 | #2,082 | 0.02 |
| 1927 | 16 | #2,324 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 23 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1925 | 22 | #1,883 | 0.02 |
| 1924 | 15 | #2,499 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 11 | #3,094 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 13 | #2,750 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 8 | #3,971 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,333 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #4,196 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,515 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 6 | #4,335 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,858 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shelia a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shelia has been given almost only to girls: 111 boys in 107 years of records.
Girls and boys named Shelia: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shelia, and how old are they?
39,600 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 83% of the 47,891 Americans ever recorded as Shelia. The median Shelia alive today is 64 years old; half are between 58 and 70.
The 2020 Census counted 33,324 people named Shelia (33,273 women and girls, 51 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 42,046 born in the U.S. The Census count is 21% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 682 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 24,300 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 12,700 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,500 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 308 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 97 |
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 Shelia born?
The states with the most babies named Shelia are North Carolina, Texas and Alabama, with 26% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Alabama is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| North Carolina | 4,034 | not ranked | 3.0× |
| Texas | 4,014 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Alabama | 3,673 | not ranked | 3.8× |
| Tennessee | 3,608 | not ranked | 3.5× |
| Louisiana | 3,245 | not ranked | 3.2× |
| Georgia | 2,965 | not ranked | 2.4× |
| Mississippi | 2,745 | not ranked | 3.8× |
| Kentucky | 2,325 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Virginia | 2,218 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Florida | 1,554 | not ranked | 1.2× |
Where Shelia is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shelia is most over-represented in Alabama: since 1915 it was given 3.8 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 Shelia 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 398,533 babies since 1880, Shelia is the third most given (12% of them). In 2025 none of their 164 babies recorded by SSA was a Shelia (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 Shelia
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 Shelia and names like it
- Compare Shelia and SheilaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sShelia peaked in 1959.
- North Carolina’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shelia since 1910.
- The top names of 1959The year the most babies were named Shelia.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Shelia alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.