Shirlene
Shirlene was last recorded in 2010, when 5 babies were given it; 4,856 Americans have been recorded with it between 1923 and 2010 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,290 Americans named Shirlene and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 69 years old and half are between 61 and 76.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shirlene by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shirlene?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #19,426, in 2010; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
159 babies in 1956, the peak
Shirlene peaked in 1956, when 159 girls were given it, #784 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 5 | #19,426 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 5 | #20,036 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 5 | #19,621 | under 0.01 |
| 2004 | 5 | #18,399 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 5 | #18,007 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 7 | #13,273 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 6 | #13,862 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 5 | #15,517 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 8 | #10,382 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 6 | #13,189 | under 0.01 |
Every recorded year (80)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 7 | #11,619 | under 0.01 |
| 1992 | 11 | #7,981 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 19 | #5,152 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 5 | #14,925 | under 0.01 |
| 1989 | 9 | #8,659 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 9 | #8,296 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 13 | #5,884 | 0.01 |
| 1986 | 10 | #7,055 | 0.01 |
| 1985 | 12 | #5,995 | 0.01 |
| 1984 | 13 | #5,495 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 22 | #3,663 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 17 | #4,503 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 18 | #4,305 | 0.01 |
| 1980 | 23 | #3,591 | 0.01 |
| 1979 | 21 | #3,758 | 0.01 |
| 1978 | 20 | #3,751 | 0.01 |
| 1977 | 21 | #3,590 | 0.01 |
| 1976 | 23 | #3,170 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 32 | #2,503 | 0.02 |
| 1974 | 28 | #2,672 | 0.02 |
| 1973 | 23 | #3,000 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 37 | #2,128 | 0.02 |
| 1971 | 38 | #2,166 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 58 | #1,634 | 0.03 |
| 1969 | 68 | #1,418 | 0.04 |
| 1968 | 84 | #1,188 | 0.05 |
| 1967 | 83 | #1,170 | 0.05 |
| 1966 | 91 | #1,111 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 118 | #942 | 0.07 |
| 1964 | 121 | #963 | 0.06 |
| 1963 | 114 | #1,002 | 0.06 |
| 1962 | 119 | #984 | 0.06 |
| 1961 | 118 | #1,000 | 0.06 |
| 1960 | 123 | #966 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 115 | #988 | 0.06 |
| 1958 | 124 | #929 | 0.06 |
| 1957 | 142 | #853 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 159 | #784 | 0.08 |
| 1955 | 122 | #881 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 146 | #775 | 0.08 |
| 1953 | 120 | #854 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 134 | #773 | 0.07 |
| 1951 | 136 | #755 | 0.08 |
| 1950 | 158 | #679 | 0.09 |
| 1949 | 135 | #735 | 0.08 |
| 1948 | 122 | #780 | 0.07 |
| 1947 | 108 | #845 | 0.06 |
| 1946 | 111 | #784 | 0.07 |
| 1945 | 97 | #764 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 74 | #892 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 89 | #828 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 92 | #801 | 0.07 |
| 1941 | 84 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1940 | 110 | #663 | 0.10 |
| 1939 | 131 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1938 | 118 | #634 | 0.11 |
| 1937 | 115 | #632 | 0.11 |
| 1936 | 156 | #520 | 0.15 |
| 1935 | 104 | #639 | 0.10 |
| 1934 | 55 | #935 | 0.05 |
| 1933 | 47 | #1,022 | 0.05 |
| 1932 | 37 | #1,190 | 0.03 |
| 1931 | 32 | #1,312 | 0.03 |
| 1930 | 23 | #1,699 | 0.02 |
| 1929 | 21 | #1,815 | 0.02 |
| 1928 | 13 | #2,604 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,837 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 16 | #2,334 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,972 | under 0.01 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,318 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shirlene a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Shirlene 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 Shirlene: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shirlene, and how old are they?
3,290 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 4,856 Americans ever recorded as Shirlene. The median Shirlene alive today is 69 years old; half are between 61 and 76.
The 2020 Census counted 3,391 people named Shirlene (3,385 women and girls, 6 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,741 born in the U.S. The Census count is 9% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 493 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,880 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 702 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 178 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 38 |
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 Shirlene born?
The states with the most babies named Shirlene are Texas, California and North Carolina, with 29% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 260 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| California | 211 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 210 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Georgia | 208 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Utah | 203 | not ranked | 6.3× |
| Kentucky | 138 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Louisiana | 137 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 106 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 89 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Florida | 86 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Shirlene is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Shirlene is most over-represented in Utah: since 1923 it was given 6.3 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 Shirlene 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 3 names spelled alike, given to 5,141 babies since 1880, Shirlene is the most given (94% 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 Shirlene
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 Shirlene and names like it
- Compare Shirlene and ShirlineBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1950sShirlene peaked in 1956.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shirlene since 1910.
- The top names of 1956The year the most babies were named Shirlene.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Shirlene alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.