Shira
Shira was given to 79 girls in 2025, #2,321 among girls’ names; 5,815 Americans have been recorded with it since 1941 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 5,630 Americans named Shira and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 29 years old and half are between 17 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shira by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Shira mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Shira is “a female given name from Hebrew.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Shira?
#2,321 among girls’ names, 2025
Shira rose from #2,425 in 2015 to #2,321 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born rose from 42.6 to 49.2 per million.
159 babies in 2009, the peak
Shira peaked in 2009, when 159 girls were given it, #1,468 among girls’ names. The 79 births of 2025 are 50% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 79 | #2,321 | 49.2 |
| 2024 | 79 | #2,342 | 48.8 |
| 2023 | 62 | #2,783 | 38.6 |
| 2022 | 70 | #2,552 | 42.7 |
| 2021 | 75 | #2,413 | 45.7 |
| 2020 | 65 | #2,626 | 40.2 |
| 2019 | 70 | #2,533 | 41.7 |
| 2018 | 67 | #2,607 | 39.4 |
| 2017 | 70 | #2,541 | 40.5 |
| 2016 | 90 | #2,166 | 50.8 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 76 | #2,425 | 42.6 |
| 2014 | 97 | #2,034 | 54.3 |
| 2013 | 96 | #2,030 | 54.7 |
| 2012 | 78 | #2,399 | 44.3 |
| 2011 | 92 | #2,099 | 52.3 |
| 2010 | 125 | #1,695 | 70.3 |
| 2009 | 159 | #1,468 | 86.5 |
| 2008 | 151 | #1,538 | 79.9 |
| 2007 | 121 | #1,780 | 62.9 |
| 2006 | 139 | #1,566 | 73.1 |
| 2005 | 139 | #1,505 | 75.2 |
| 2004 | 137 | #1,478 | 74.6 |
| 2003 | 111 | #1,716 | 60.8 |
| 2002 | 119 | #1,570 | 66.2 |
| 2001 | 134 | #1,420 | 74.4 |
| 2000 | 114 | #1,568 | 62.8 |
| 1999 | 110 | #1,542 | 62.0 |
| 1998 | 96 | #1,672 | 54.3 |
| 1997 | 84 | #1,798 | 48.3 |
| 1996 | 99 | #1,580 | 56.5 |
| 1995 | 95 | #1,588 | 54.0 |
| 1994 | 97 | #1,577 | 54.3 |
| 1993 | 100 | #1,561 | 55.3 |
| 1992 | 116 | #1,411 | 62.9 |
| 1991 | 82 | #1,758 | 43.7 |
| 1990 | 109 | #1,439 | 57.4 |
| 1989 | 101 | #1,456 | 54.8 |
| 1988 | 133 | #1,154 | 74.7 |
| 1987 | 87 | #1,494 | 50.0 |
| 1986 | 119 | #1,193 | 69.4 |
| 1985 | 157 | #979 | 91.2 |
| 1984 | 119 | #1,151 | 70.7 |
| 1983 | 132 | #1,058 | 79.0 |
| 1982 | 123 | #1,146 | 72.6 |
| 1981 | 101 | #1,276 | 60.5 |
| 1980 | 110 | #1,203 | 66.3 |
| 1979 | 104 | #1,244 | 64.8 |
| 1978 | 82 | #1,420 | 53.5 |
| 1977 | 95 | #1,266 | 62.0 |
| 1976 | 71 | #1,477 | 48.5 |
| 1975 | 70 | #1,475 | 48.0 |
| 1974 | 51 | #1,769 | 34.8 |
| 1973 | 52 | #1,729 | 35.7 |
| 1972 | 45 | #1,884 | 29.6 |
| 1971 | 38 | #2,165 | 22.8 |
| 1970 | 42 | #2,008 | 24.0 |
| 1969 | 29 | #2,444 | 17.2 |
| 1968 | 28 | #2,351 | 17.1 |
| 1967 | 22 | #2,693 | 13.3 |
| 1966 | 28 | #2,295 | 16.5 |
| 1965 | 20 | #2,815 | 11.3 |
| 1964 | 21 | #2,808 | 11.1 |
| 1963 | 14 | #3,611 | 7.3 |
| 1962 | 18 | #3,018 | 9.2 |
| 1961 | 19 | #2,937 | 9.4 |
| 1960 | 25 | #2,424 | 12.4 |
| 1959 | 15 | #3,229 | 7.4 |
| 1958 | 19 | #2,735 | 9.4 |
| 1957 | 19 | #2,717 | 9.3 |
| 1956 | 20 | #2,607 | 10.0 |
| 1955 | 9 | #4,336 | 4.6 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,658 | 3.1 |
| 1953 | 12 | #3,453 | 6.4 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,357 | 6.5 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,327 | 4.4 |
| 1950 | 11 | #3,392 | 6.4 |
| 1949 | 9 | #3,863 | 5.3 |
| 1948 | 5 | #5,931 | 2.9 |
| 1947 | 5 | #6,010 | 2.8 |
| 1941 | 6 | #4,365 | 5.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shira a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shira has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 80 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shira: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shira, and how old are they?
5,630 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 5,815 Americans ever recorded as Shira. The median Shira alive today is 29 years old; half are between 17 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 4,995 people named Shira (4,979 women and girls, 16 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,269 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 199 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 832 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,720 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,890 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 990 |
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 Shira born?
The states with the most babies named Shira are New York, Florida and California, with 66% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 21 | #786 | 4.3× |
| Florida | 10 | #1,423 | 0.7× |
| California | 9 | #2,254 | 0.9× |
| New Jersey | 8 | #928 | 2.7× |
| Illinois | 7 | #1,221 | 0.5× |
| Texas | 6 | #3,241 | 0.1× |
Where Shira is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shira is most over-represented in New York: since 1941 it was given 4.3 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 Shira 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 10,100 babies since 1880, Shira is the most given (58% of them). In 2025 it was given to 79 of their 139 babies (57%), again the most given.
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 Shira
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 Shira and names like it
- Compare Shira and ShriyaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sShira peaked in 2009.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shira since 1910.
- Hebrew namesWiktionary’s origin for Shira: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2009The year the most babies were named Shira.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Shira alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with SMost given first.