Shirly
Shirly was last recorded in 2016, when 5 babies were given it; 1,069 Americans have been recorded with it between 1911 and 2016 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Shirly by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Shirly?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #18,486, in 2016; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
37 babies in 1936, the peak
Shirly peaked in 1936, when 37 babies were given it (31 girls, #1,316 among girls’ names). It was not recorded in 2025.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 5 | #18,486 | 2.8 |
| 2012 | 7 | #14,754 | 4.0 |
| 2010 | 5 | #19,427 | 2.8 |
| 2009 | 5 | #19,780 | 2.7 |
| 2008 | 23 | #6,108 | 12.2 |
| 2007 | 8 | #13,749 | 4.2 |
| 2006 | 7 | #14,918 | 3.7 |
| 2005 | 7 | #14,287 | 3.8 |
| 2003 | 5 | #18,008 | 2.7 |
| 2001 | 9 | #10,891 | 5.0 |
Every recorded year (84)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 6 | #14,747 | 3.3 |
| 1999 | 5 | #16,534 | 2.8 |
| 1997 | 9 | #9,691 | 5.2 |
| 1996 | 6 | #13,242 | 3.4 |
| 1995 | 7 | #11,614 | 4.0 |
| 1994 | 7 | #11,604 | 3.9 |
| 1993 | 6 | #13,198 | 3.3 |
| 1992 | 6 | #13,122 | 3.3 |
| 1988 | 6 | #11,571 | 3.4 |
| 1987 | 7 | #9,674 | 4.0 |
| 1983 | 5 | #11,779 | 3.0 |
| 1982 | 7 | #9,066 | 4.1 |
| 1981 | 5 | #11,905 | 3.0 |
| 1980 | 5 | #11,877 | 3.0 |
| 1977 | 5 | #11,032 | 3.3 |
| 1975 | 10 | #5,910 | 6.9 |
| 1974 | 6 | #8,574 | 4.1 |
| 1973 | 8 | #6,559 | 5.5 |
| 1972 | 10 | #5,414 | 6.6 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,517 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 8 | #6,275 | 4.6 |
| 1969 | 5 | #8,490 | 3.0 |
| 1968 | 6 | #6,896 | 3.7 |
| 1967 | 6 | #6,678 | 3.6 |
| 1966 | 12 | #3,920 | 7.1 |
| 1965 | 13 | #3,710 | 7.4 |
| 1964 | 23 | #2,658 | 12.1 |
| 1963 | 11 | #4,230 | 5.7 |
| 1962 | 19 | #2,900 | 9.7 |
| 1961 | 17 | #3,170 | 8.4 |
| 1960 | 18 | #2,974 | 8.9 |
| 1959 | 16 | #3,088 | 7.9 |
| 1958 | 14 | #3,358 | 7.0 |
| 1957 | 16 | #3,015 | 7.8 |
| 1956 | 12 | #3,670 | 6.0 |
| 1955 | 20 | #2,539 | 10.2 |
| 1954 | 19 | #2,584 | 9.8 |
| 1953 | 18 | #2,581 | 9.6 |
| 1952 | 16 | #2,784 | 8.6 |
| 1951 | 17 | #2,560 | 9.4 |
| 1950 | 20 | #2,240 | 11.7 |
| 1949 | 23 | #2,058 | 13.4 |
| 1948 | 20 | #2,247 | 11.8 |
| 1947 | 24 | #2,037 | 13.5 |
| 1946 | 24 | #1,910 | 15.3 |
| 1945 | 19 | #1,982 | 14.5 |
| 1944 | 16 | #2,278 | 12.1 |
| 1943 | 20 | #1,990 | 14.3 |
| 1942 | 25 | #1,699 | 18.5 |
| 1941 | 21 | #1,797 | 17.4 |
| 1940 | 22 | #1,738 | 19.2 |
| 1939 | 26 | #1,509 | 23.7 |
| 1938 | 23 | #1,642 | 20.8 |
| 1937 | 26 | #1,489 | 24.4 |
| 1936 | 31 | #1,316 | 29.8 |
| 1935 | 27 | #1,440 | 25.7 |
| 1934 | 20 | #1,765 | 19.2 |
| 1933 | 10 | #2,841 | 9.9 |
| 1932 | 9 | #3,244 | 8.4 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,732 | 10.3 |
| 1930 | 10 | #3,026 | 8.9 |
| 1929 | 16 | #2,171 | 14.3 |
| 1928 | 12 | #2,747 | 10.4 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,839 | 10.1 |
| 1926 | 8 | #3,842 | 6.7 |
| 1925 | 10 | #3,331 | 8.2 |
| 1924 | 11 | #3,121 | 8.8 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,916 | 6.6 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,962 | 6.7 |
| 1920 | 7 | #4,334 | 5.8 |
| 1917 | 7 | #4,029 | 6.5 |
| 1916 | 5 | #5,060 | 4.8 |
| 1914 | 5 | #4,116 | 6.6 |
| 1911 | 5 | #2,811 | 12.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Shirly a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 1,069 Americans recorded as Shirly, 97% are girls and 3% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Shirly: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Shirly, and how old are they?
An estimated 633 Americans named Shirly and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (59% of everyone recorded); the median is 66 years old and half are between 45 and 77. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 2,287 people named Shirly (2,265 women and girls, 22 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 730 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.1 times 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.
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).
How common is the spelling Shirly?
Shirly is a less common spelling of Shirley: SSA has recorded 1,069 Shirly and 695,934 Shirley since 1880.
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 704,494 babies since 1880, Shirly is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 133 babies recorded by SSA was a Shirly (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 Shirly
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 Shirly and names like it
- Compare Shirly and ShirleyBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1930sShirly peaked in 1936.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Shirly since 1910.
- The top names of 1936The year the most babies were named Shirly.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Shirly alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with SMost given first.