Sherman
Sherman was given to 19 boys in 2025, #5,168 among boys’ names; 39,393 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 18,000 Americans named Sherman and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (46% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 46 and 73.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Sherman by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Sherman mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Sherman is “a male given name transferred from the surname.”
(English surname): From Middle English schereman, scherman; equivalent to shear + -man.
/ˈʃɜː(ɹ)mən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Sherman?
#5,168 among boys’ names, 2025
Sherman fell from #2,852 in 2015 to #5,168 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 21.9 to 11.1 per million.
644 babies in 1951, the peak
Sherman peaked in 1951, when 644 babies were given it (634 boys, #269 among boys’ names). The 19 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 19 | #5,168 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 21 | #4,853 | 0.01 |
| 2023 | 19 | #5,213 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 32 | #3,600 | 0.02 |
| 2021 | 33 | #3,481 | 0.02 |
| 2020 | 34 | #3,332 | 0.02 |
| 2019 | 36 | #3,244 | 0.02 |
| 2018 | 36 | #3,222 | 0.02 |
| 2017 | 47 | #2,666 | 0.03 |
| 2016 | 47 | #2,654 | 0.02 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 42 | #2,852 | 0.02 |
| 2014 | 39 | #2,974 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 40 | #2,883 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 46 | #2,671 | 0.02 |
| 2011 | 40 | #2,946 | 0.02 |
| 2010 | 43 | #2,817 | 0.02 |
| 2009 | 50 | #2,549 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 60 | #2,232 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 55 | #2,363 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 72 | #1,888 | 0.04 |
| 2005 | 70 | #1,848 | 0.04 |
| 2004 | 66 | #1,873 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 75 | #1,663 | 0.04 |
| 2002 | 70 | #1,689 | 0.04 |
| 2001 | 89 | #1,408 | 0.05 |
| 2000 | 108 | #1,236 | 0.05 |
| 1999 | 80 | #1,451 | 0.04 |
| 1998 | 103 | #1,201 | 0.05 |
| 1997 | 124 | #1,036 | 0.07 |
| 1996 | 116 | #1,056 | 0.06 |
| 1995 | 114 | #1,048 | 0.06 |
| 1994 | 148 | #893 | 0.08 |
| 1993 | 144 | #890 | 0.07 |
| 1992 | 175 | #792 | 0.09 |
| 1991 | 183 | #753 | 0.09 |
| 1990 | 164 | #792 | 0.08 |
| 1989 | 195 | #702 | 0.10 |
| 1988 | 170 | #723 | 0.09 |
| 1987 | 172 | #694 | 0.09 |
| 1986 | 189 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1985 | 196 | #629 | 0.11 |
| 1984 | 216 | #579 | 0.12 |
| 1983 | 251 | #526 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 271 | #517 | 0.15 |
| 1981 | 285 | #499 | 0.16 |
| 1980 | 303 | #484 | 0.17 |
| 1979 | 286 | #492 | 0.17 |
| 1978 | 312 | #453 | 0.19 |
| 1977 | 301 | #464 | 0.18 |
| 1976 | 291 | #459 | 0.19 |
| 1975 | 334 | #431 | 0.21 |
| 1974 | 326 | #439 | 0.21 |
| 1973 | 291 | #458 | 0.19 |
| 1972 | 369 | #410 | 0.23 |
| 1971 | 383 | #411 | 0.22 |
| 1970 | 387 | #414 | 0.21 |
| 1969 | 383 | #407 | 0.21 |
| 1968 | 351 | #411 | 0.20 |
| 1967 | 370 | #396 | 0.21 |
| 1966 | 336 | #413 | 0.19 |
| 1965 | 407 | #387 | 0.22 |
| 1964 | 446 | #373 | 0.22 |
| 1963 | 451 | #376 | 0.22 |
| 1962 | 491 | #357 | 0.24 |
| 1961 | 498 | #356 | 0.23 |
| 1960 | 563 | #325 | 0.26 |
| 1959 | 511 | #344 | 0.24 |
| 1958 | 599 | #310 | 0.28 |
| 1957 | 514 | #337 | 0.24 |
| 1956 | 533 | #323 | 0.25 |
| 1955 | 590 | #298 | 0.29 |
| 1954 | 555 | #307 | 0.27 |
| 1953 | 605 | #286 | 0.31 |
| 1952 | 611 | #279 | 0.31 |
| 1951 | 634 | #269 | 0.34 |
| 1950 | 635 | #260 | 0.35 |
| 1949 | 558 | #287 | 0.31 |
| 1948 | 595 | #274 | 0.34 |
| 1947 | 577 | #287 | 0.32 |
| 1946 | 519 | #283 | 0.32 |
| 1945 | 511 | #257 | 0.38 |
| 1944 | 512 | #260 | 0.38 |
| 1943 | 541 | #261 | 0.38 |
| 1942 | 552 | #244 | 0.40 |
| 1941 | 559 | #230 | 0.46 |
| 1940 | 532 | #232 | 0.46 |
| 1939 | 546 | #221 | 0.49 |
| 1938 | 521 | #230 | 0.47 |
| 1937 | 543 | #220 | 0.51 |
| 1936 | 485 | #233 | 0.47 |
| 1935 | 511 | #229 | 0.49 |
| 1934 | 437 | #258 | 0.42 |
| 1933 | 442 | #248 | 0.45 |
| 1932 | 432 | #261 | 0.41 |
| 1931 | 443 | #257 | 0.43 |
| 1930 | 473 | #257 | 0.43 |
| 1929 | 503 | #245 | 0.47 |
| 1928 | 511 | #247 | 0.46 |
| 1927 | 524 | #246 | 0.46 |
| 1926 | 473 | #258 | 0.43 |
| 1925 | 499 | #255 | 0.45 |
| 1924 | 527 | #251 | 0.47 |
| 1923 | 507 | #249 | 0.46 |
| 1922 | 540 | #243 | 0.50 |
| 1921 | 487 | #257 | 0.44 |
| 1920 | 488 | #248 | 0.46 |
| 1919 | 463 | #246 | 0.47 |
| 1918 | 503 | #239 | 0.50 |
| 1917 | 466 | #234 | 0.50 |
| 1916 | 463 | #229 | 0.52 |
| 1915 | 425 | #233 | 0.50 |
| 1914 | 320 | #237 | 0.49 |
| 1913 | 284 | #221 | 0.55 |
| 1912 | 218 | #237 | 0.51 |
| 1911 | 123 | #231 | 0.54 |
| 1910 | 107 | #226 | 0.55 |
| 1909 | 115 | #192 | 0.70 |
| 1908 | 118 | #183 | 0.76 |
| 1907 | 74 | #241 | 0.50 |
| 1906 | 71 | #233 | 0.53 |
| 1905 | 72 | #231 | 0.54 |
| 1904 | 81 | #205 | 0.63 |
| 1903 | 70 | #215 | 0.59 |
| 1902 | 78 | #203 | 0.64 |
| 1901 | 64 | #212 | 0.60 |
| 1900 | 95 | #201 | 0.63 |
| 1899 | 65 | #204 | 0.61 |
| 1898 | 74 | #203 | 0.60 |
| 1897 | 61 | #215 | 0.54 |
| 1896 | 100 | #162 | 0.84 |
| 1895 | 75 | #196 | 0.64 |
| 1894 | 100 | #154 | 0.86 |
| 1893 | 71 | #203 | 0.63 |
| 1892 | 76 | #200 | 0.62 |
| 1891 | 77 | #169 | 0.76 |
| 1890 | 67 | #199 | 0.60 |
| 1889 | 59 | #218 | 0.53 |
| 1888 | 79 | #189 | 0.65 |
| 1887 | 78 | #162 | 0.77 |
| 1886 | 66 | #204 | 0.60 |
| 1885 | 65 | #198 | 0.60 |
| 1884 | 69 | #195 | 0.60 |
| 1883 | 48 | #228 | 0.46 |
| 1882 | 50 | #237 | 0.44 |
| 1881 | 47 | #223 | 0.47 |
| 1880 | 54 | #219 | 0.49 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Sherman a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Sherman has been given almost only to boys: 203 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Sherman: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Sherman, and how old are they?
18,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 46% of the 39,393 Americans ever recorded as Sherman. The median Sherman alive today is 61 years old; half are between 46 and 73.
The 2020 Census counted 17,698 people named Sherman (131 women and girls, 17,567 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 20,566 born in the U.S. The Census count is 14% 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 | 1,830 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 6,920 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,810 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 2,860 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,130 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 442 |
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 Sherman born?
The states with the most babies named Sherman are Texas, Illinois and Virginia, with 18% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Virginia is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2,146 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 1,807 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Virginia | 1,742 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Louisiana | 1,681 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| California | 1,662 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 1,622 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Kentucky | 1,615 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| North Carolina | 1,603 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Ohio | 1,551 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 1,322 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Sherman is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Sherman is most over-represented in Louisiana: since 1910 it was given 2.2 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 boys’ 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 Sherman 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 39,763 babies since 1880, Sherman is the most given (99% of them).
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 Sherman
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 Sherman and names like it
- Compare Sherman and ShermonBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sSherman peaked in 1951.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Sherman since 1910.
- From surnamesWiktionary’s origin for Sherman: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1951The year the most babies were named Sherman.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Sherman alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.