Shelli
Shelli was last recorded in 2010, when 7 babies were given it; 6,983 Americans have been recorded with it between 1945 and 2010 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,310 Americans named Shelli and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (90% of everyone recorded); the median is 57 years old and half are between 51 and 62.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shelli by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shelli?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #14,727, in 2010; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
396 babies in 1968, the peak
Shelli peaked in 1968, when 396 girls were given it, #485 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 7 | #14,727 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #20,107 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 6 | #15,793 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 10 | #10,317 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 7 | #13,397 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 10 | #9,989 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 6 | #14,733 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 12 | #8,148 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 13 | #7,459 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 6 | #13,459 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (62)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 15 | #6,336 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 11 | #7,999 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 18 | #5,411 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 32 | #3,490 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 32 | #3,484 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 41 | #2,868 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 36 | #3,138 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 34 | #3,146 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 47 | #2,356 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 47 | #2,302 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 63 | #1,810 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 81 | #1,519 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 65 | #1,699 | 0.04 |
| 1983 | 99 | #1,264 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 109 | #1,227 | 0.06 |
| 1981 | 93 | #1,350 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 131 | #1,082 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 123 | #1,109 | 0.08 |
| 1978 | 134 | #1,022 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 152 | #925 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 133 | #963 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 185 | #768 | 0.13 |
| 1974 | 212 | #697 | 0.14 |
| 1973 | 230 | #653 | 0.16 |
| 1972 | 295 | #562 | 0.19 |
| 1971 | 364 | #513 | 0.22 |
| 1970 | 321 | #568 | 0.18 |
| 1969 | 361 | #517 | 0.21 |
| 1968 | 396 | #485 | 0.24 |
| 1967 | 368 | #499 | 0.22 |
| 1966 | 333 | #517 | 0.20 |
| 1965 | 310 | #539 | 0.18 |
| 1964 | 386 | #498 | 0.20 |
| 1963 | 361 | #513 | 0.19 |
| 1962 | 281 | #594 | 0.14 |
| 1961 | 230 | #687 | 0.11 |
| 1960 | 191 | #735 | 0.09 |
| 1959 | 123 | #948 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 100 | #1,049 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 70 | #1,260 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 49 | #1,527 | 0.02 |
| 1955 | 44 | #1,552 | 0.02 |
| 1954 | 47 | #1,479 | 0.02 |
| 1953 | 38 | #1,614 | 0.02 |
| 1952 | 29 | #1,884 | 0.02 |
| 1951 | 27 | #1,915 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 17 | #2,518 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 9 | #3,855 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 7 | #4,586 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 10 | #3,665 | 0.01 |
| 1946 | 5 | #5,594 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 6 | #4,477 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shelli a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shelli has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 62 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shelli: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shelli, and how old are they?
6,310 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 90% of the 6,983 Americans ever recorded as Shelli. The median Shelli alive today is 57 years old; half are between 51 and 62.
The 2020 Census counted 6,050 people named Shelli (6,046 women and girls, 4 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,508 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,710 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,730 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 797 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 81 |
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 Shelli born?
The states with the most babies named Shelli are California, Texas and Ohio, with 37% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 881 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Texas | 582 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Ohio | 339 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Oklahoma | 278 | not ranked | 3.1× |
| Michigan | 272 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Washington | 224 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| Illinois | 216 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Indiana | 209 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Iowa | 168 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 167 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Shelli is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shelli is most over-represented in Oklahoma: since 1945 it was given 3.1 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 Shelli with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
How common is the spelling Shelli?
Shelli is a less common spelling of Shelly: SSA has recorded 6,983 Shelli and 86,610 Shelly since 1880.
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 471,743 babies since 1880, Shelli is the sixth most given (1.5% of them). In 2025 none of their 177 babies recorded by SSA was a Shelli (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 Shelli
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 Shelli and names like it
- Compare Shelli and ShellyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sShelli peaked in 1968.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shelli since 1910.
- The top names of 1968The year the most babies were named Shelli.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Shelli alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with SMost given first.