Sherley
Sherley was last recorded in 2023, when 7 babies were given it; 1,502 Americans have been recorded with it between 1910 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sherley by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sherley mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sherley is “a female given name transferred from the surname.”
Also “a unisex given name transferred from the surname.”
Variant of Shirley.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sherley?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #13,264, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
37 babies in 1936, the peak
Sherley peaked in 1936, when 37 babies were given it (20 girls, #1,737 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 7 | #13,264 | under 5 | |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,839 | under 5 | |
| 2016 | 6 | #15,957 | under 5 | |
| 2015 | 5 | #18,733 | under 5 | |
| 2014 | 5 | #18,835 | under 5 | |
| 2013 | 5 | #18,876 | under 5 | |
| 2011 | 11 | #10,289 | under 5 | |
| 2010 | 10 | #11,131 | under 5 | |
| 2009 | 11 | #10,567 | under 5 | |
| 2008 | 18 | #7,364 | under 5 |
Every recorded year (103)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 13 | #9,468 | under 5 | |
| 2006 | 16 | #7,806 | under 5 | |
| 2005 | 17 | #7,093 | under 5 | |
| 2004 | 25 | #5,188 | under 5 | |
| 2003 | 15 | #7,525 | under 5 | |
| 2002 | 10 | #10,122 | under 5 | |
| 2001 | 16 | #6,916 | under 5 | |
| 2000 | 11 | #9,062 | under 5 | |
| 1999 | 16 | #6,438 | under 5 | |
| 1998 | 7 | #12,222 | under 5 | |
| 1997 | 12 | #7,669 | under 5 | |
| 1996 | 11 | #8,043 | under 5 | |
| 1995 | 17 | #5,645 | under 5 | |
| 1994 | 8 | #10,401 | under 5 | |
| 1993 | 8 | #10,433 | under 5 | |
| 1992 | 8 | #10,328 | under 5 | |
| 1991 | 12 | #7,352 | under 5 | |
| 1990 | 11 | #7,796 | under 5 | |
| 1989 | 14 | #6,106 | under 5 | |
| 1988 | 15 | #5,563 | under 5 | |
| 1987 | 10 | #7,267 | under 5 | |
| 1986 | 12 | #6,095 | under 5 | |
| 1985 | 10 | #6,875 | under 5 | |
| 1984 | 10 | #6,708 | under 5 | |
| 1983 | 9 | #7,198 | under 5 | |
| 1982 | 14 | #5,155 | under 5 | |
| 1981 | 10 | #6,735 | under 5 | |
| 1980 | 8 | #8,044 | under 5 | |
| 1979 | 6 | #10,007 | under 5 | |
| 1977 | 5 | #11,012 | under 5 | |
| 1976 | 8 | #7,166 | under 5 | |
| 1974 | 8 | #6,774 | under 5 | |
| 1973 | 7 | #7,311 | under 5 | |
| 1972 | 9 | #5,861 | under 5 | |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,506 | under 5 | |
| 1970 | 9 | #5,746 | under 5 | |
| 1969 | 10 | #4,996 | under 5 | |
| 1968 | 6 | #6,887 | under 5 | |
| 1967 | 13 | #3,813 | under 5 | |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,804 | under 5 | |
| 1965 | 6 | #6,411 | under 5 | |
| 1964 | 14 | #3,666 | under 5 | |
| 1963 | 12 | #3,993 | under 5 | |
| 1962 | 15 | #3,419 | under 5 | |
| 1961 | 10 | #4,492 | under 5 | |
| 1960 | 15 | #3,332 | under 5 | |
| 1959 | 14 | #3,409 | under 5 | |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,151 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 9 | #4,497 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 12 | #3,668 | under 5 | |
| 1955 | 12 | #3,547 | under 5 | |
| 1954 | 7 | #5,068 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,452 | under 5 | |
| 1952 | 18 | #2,569 | under 5 | |
| 1951 | 12 | #3,261 | under 5 | |
| 1950 | 20 | #2,239 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 15 | #2,711 | 5 | #4,134 |
| 1948 | 21 | #2,177 | 5 | #4,113 |
| 1947 | 30 | #1,786 | under 5 | |
| 1946 | 16 | #2,472 | under 5 | |
| 1945 | 20 | #1,934 | under 5 | |
| 1944 | 15 | #2,379 | 7 | #3,072 |
| 1943 | 25 | #1,747 | under 5 | |
| 1942 | 18 | #2,105 | 7 | #3,179 |
| 1941 | 26 | #1,568 | 6 | #3,447 |
| 1940 | 16 | #2,092 | 6 | #3,419 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,561 | under 5 | |
| 1938 | 12 | #2,556 | 10 | #2,465 |
| 1937 | 24 | #1,575 | 11 | #2,314 |
| 1936 | 20 | #1,737 | 17 | #1,717 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,905 | 10 | #2,507 |
| 1934 | 24 | #1,544 | 10 | #2,539 |
| 1933 | 12 | #2,524 | 8 | #2,966 |
| 1932 | 7 | #3,858 | 6 | #3,718 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,949 | 10 | #2,624 |
| 1930 | 18 | #2,010 | under 5 | |
| 1929 | 12 | #2,715 | 9 | #2,942 |
| 1928 | 14 | #2,486 | 7 | #3,653 |
| 1927 | 10 | #3,254 | 10 | #2,882 |
| 1926 | 15 | #2,456 | 8 | #3,344 |
| 1925 | 12 | #2,921 | 9 | #3,118 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,624 | 6 | #4,272 |
| 1923 | 11 | #3,095 | 9 | #3,137 |
| 1922 | 9 | #3,617 | 13 | #2,467 |
| 1921 | 6 | #5,018 | 10 | #2,958 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,895 | 15 | #2,211 |
| 1919 | 6 | #4,732 | 10 | #2,842 |
| 1918 | 13 | #2,654 | 15 | #2,148 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,517 | 11 | #2,541 |
| 1916 | 6 | #4,336 | 8 | #3,143 |
| 1915 | under 5 | 6 | #3,772 | |
| 1914 | 9 | #2,605 | under 5 | |
| 1910 | 5 | #2,738 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Sherley a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,502 Americans recorded as Sherley, 82% are girls and 18% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Sherley: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sherley, and how old are they?
An estimated 854 Americans named Sherley and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (57% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 27 and 74. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 2,234 people named Sherley (2,163 women and girls, 71 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 954 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.3 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 700,236 babies since 1880, Sherley is the second most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 145 babies recorded by SSA was a Sherley (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 Sherley
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 Sherley and names like it
- Compare Sherley and ShirleyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sSherley peaked in 1936.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sherley since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Sherley: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1936The year the most babies were named Sherley.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sherley alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.