Shiela
Shiela was last recorded in 2001, when 8 babies were given it; 4,408 Americans have been recorded with it between 1908 and 2001 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,570 Americans named Shiela and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (81% of everyone recorded); the median is 61 years old and half are between 54 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shiela by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shiela?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #11,890, in 2001; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
216 babies in 1970, the peak
Shiela peaked in 1970, when 216 girls were given it, #714 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 8 | #11,890 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 7 | #12,935 | under 0.01 |
| 1999 | 6 | #14,152 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 10 | #8,925 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 8 | #10,413 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 8 | #10,377 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 18 | #5,414 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 17 | #5,639 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 21 | #4,823 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 25 | #4,183 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (79)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 22 | #4,498 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 16 | #5,502 | 0.01 |
| 1988 | 13 | #6,226 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 33 | #2,962 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 30 | #3,120 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 37 | #2,645 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 31 | #2,900 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 25 | #3,323 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 47 | #2,178 | 0.03 |
| 1981 | 29 | #3,052 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 39 | #2,480 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 44 | #2,240 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 47 | #2,045 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 53 | #1,897 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 75 | #1,419 | 0.05 |
| 1975 | 53 | #1,773 | 0.04 |
| 1974 | 72 | #1,424 | 0.05 |
| 1973 | 91 | #1,191 | 0.06 |
| 1972 | 116 | #1,016 | 0.08 |
| 1971 | 139 | #934 | 0.08 |
| 1970 | 216 | #714 | 0.12 |
| 1969 | 132 | #926 | 0.08 |
| 1968 | 129 | #911 | 0.08 |
| 1967 | 112 | #969 | 0.07 |
| 1966 | 134 | #867 | 0.08 |
| 1965 | 146 | #824 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 156 | #837 | 0.08 |
| 1963 | 157 | #836 | 0.08 |
| 1962 | 127 | #944 | 0.06 |
| 1961 | 136 | #921 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 126 | #952 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 131 | #915 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 98 | #1,064 | 0.05 |
| 1957 | 115 | #966 | 0.06 |
| 1956 | 99 | #1,031 | 0.05 |
| 1955 | 81 | #1,109 | 0.04 |
| 1954 | 76 | #1,138 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 92 | #1,006 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 81 | #1,053 | 0.04 |
| 1951 | 92 | #974 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 75 | #1,069 | 0.04 |
| 1949 | 74 | #1,046 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 74 | #1,028 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 79 | #999 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 58 | #1,119 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 56 | #1,045 | 0.04 |
| 1944 | 40 | #1,269 | 0.03 |
| 1943 | 42 | #1,271 | 0.03 |
| 1942 | 46 | #1,177 | 0.03 |
| 1941 | 41 | #1,183 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 25 | #1,585 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 20 | #1,784 | 0.02 |
| 1938 | 19 | #1,863 | 0.02 |
| 1937 | 17 | #1,987 | 0.02 |
| 1936 | 29 | #1,373 | 0.03 |
| 1935 | 23 | #1,601 | 0.02 |
| 1934 | 7 | #3,753 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 13 | #2,383 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 11 | #2,808 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 9 | #3,184 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 12 | #2,668 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 12 | #2,717 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 7 | #4,220 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 7 | #4,251 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 5 | #5,669 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 13 | #2,794 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 6 | #4,896 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,861 | 0.01 |
| 1908 | 7 | #1,830 | 0.02 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shiela a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shiela has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 79 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shiela: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shiela, and how old are they?
3,570 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 81% of the 4,408 Americans ever recorded as Shiela. The median Shiela alive today is 61 years old; half are between 54 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 4,306 people named Shiela (4,298 women and girls, 8 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,804 born in the U.S. The Census count is 13% 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 | 168 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,530 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,470 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 369 |
| 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).
Where are babies named Shiela born?
The states with the most babies named Shiela are California, Texas and Ohio, with 43% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 449 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 169 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 132 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| New York | 127 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 118 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 85 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 83 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Missouri | 76 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Indiana | 61 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Oklahoma | 46 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Shiela is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shiela is most over-represented in California: since 1910 it was given 1.1 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 Shiela 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 17,554 babies since 1880, Shiela is the second most given (25% of them). In 2025 none of their 271 babies recorded by SSA was a Shiela (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 Shiela
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 Shiela and names like it
- Compare Shiela and ShylaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sShiela peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shiela since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Shiela.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Shiela alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.