Shirlean
Shirlean was last recorded in 1971, when 8 babies were given it; 336 Americans have been recorded with it between 1937 and 1971 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shirlean by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shirlean?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #6,516, in 1971; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
21 babies in 1960, the peak
Shirlean peaked in 1960, when 21 girls were given it, #2,714 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | 8 | #6,516 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 5 | #9,117 | 2.9 |
| 1968 | 7 | #6,152 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 5 | #7,680 | 3.0 |
| 1966 | 9 | #4,808 | 5.3 |
| 1965 | 7 | #5,732 | 4.0 |
| 1964 | 10 | #4,590 | 5.3 |
| 1963 | 7 | #5,803 | 3.6 |
| 1962 | 13 | #3,749 | 6.6 |
| 1961 | 13 | #3,765 | 6.4 |
Every recorded year (33)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960 | 21 | #2,714 | 10.4 |
| 1959 | 19 | #2,746 | 9.4 |
| 1958 | 10 | #4,155 | 5.0 |
| 1957 | 14 | #3,282 | 6.8 |
| 1956 | 17 | #2,918 | 8.5 |
| 1955 | 8 | #4,683 | 4.1 |
| 1954 | 10 | #3,929 | 5.1 |
| 1953 | 8 | #4,544 | 4.3 |
| 1952 | 7 | #4,856 | 3.8 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,329 | 4.4 |
| 1950 | 15 | #2,762 | 8.8 |
| 1949 | 18 | #2,400 | 10.5 |
| 1948 | 13 | #2,953 | 7.7 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,298 | 4.5 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,898 | 3.8 |
| 1945 | 13 | #2,579 | 9.9 |
| 1943 | 7 | #4,146 | 5.0 |
| 1942 | 9 | #3,403 | 6.7 |
| 1941 | 6 | #4,367 | 5.0 |
| 1940 | 12 | #2,558 | 10.5 |
| 1939 | 7 | #3,734 | 6.4 |
| 1938 | 6 | #4,286 | 5.4 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,914 | 9.4 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shirlean a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shirlean has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 33 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Shirlean: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shirlean, and how old are they?
An estimated 244 Americans named Shirlean and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (73% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 64 and 76. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 267 people named Shirlean (261 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 272 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% below that prediction.
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 4 names spelled alike, given to 3,091 babies since 1880, Shirlean is the fourth most given (11% of them).
| Name | Since 1880 | Births 2025 | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirleen | 1,790 | under 5 | 1948 |
| Shirleyann | 576 | under 5 | 1935 |
| Shirlyn | 389 | under 5 | 1951 |
| Shirlean | 336 | under 5 | 1960 |
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 Shirlean
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 Shirlean and names like it
- Compare Shirlean and ShirleenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sShirlean peaked in 1960.
- Mississippi’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shirlean since 1910.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Shirlean.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Shirlean alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.