Shirley
Shirley was the 1586th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 133 babies. Its best year was 1935, when it ranked 2nd with 42,366 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 272 places. More babies were named Shirley in the 1930s than in any other decade.
Meaning bright clearing; shire meadow · English, Old English
Say it SHUR-lee /ˈʃɝli/
- Rank in 2025
- #1,586 girls, down 36 places since 2020
- Babies in 2025
- 133girls
- Girls and boys
- Almost always a girl’s name2021–2025
- Peak year
- 193542,366 babies
- Total since 1880
- 695,934babies recorded
What does the name Shirley mean?
Shirley is an English place name and surname from Old English scīr and lēah, as Wiktionary explains; scīr can mean 'shire, district' or 'bright', so the place names are read as 'county meadow' or 'bright clearing'. Originally a boys' name, it became a girls' name after Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley (1849), and child star Shirley Temple made it hugely popular in the 1930s.
scīr (Old English, “shire; bright”)lēah (Old English, “clearing, meadow”)
How sure is this? Well established. Which sense of scīr applies varies by place.
Related names: Shirlee, Shirl.
See also: English names, names that mean meadow, hill or valley, names from places.
Sources for this meaning
- Wiktionary, entry 'Shirley', Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0; facts restated, no text reused)
- US Social Security Administration, national baby-name data 1880-2025 (our computation), SSA (public domain)
Nicknames for Shirley
The usual nicknames for Shirley are Shirl.
| Nickname | Kind | Rank 2025 | Girls, 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirl | Traditional | — | — |
Nicknames reviewed by our editors; counts are girls given the nickname as their legal first name. Nobody records how many Shirleys go by each one.
Shirley popularity since 1880
A few boys are given the name too: 9,551 since 1880.
| Year | Rank (girls) | Babies (girls) |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #1,586 | 133 |
| 2020 | #1,550 | 137 |
| 2010 | #1,325 | 178 |
| 2000 | #851 | 259 |
| 1990 | #510 | 472 |
| 1980 | #380 | 603 |
| 1970 | #198 | 1,629 |
| 1960 | #70 | 6,411 |
| 1950 | #19 | 15,891 |
| 1940 | #9 | 17,881 |
| 1930 | #11 | 14,775 |
| 1920 | #56 | 4,713 |
| 1910 | #204 | 318 |
| 1900 | #324 | 110 |
| 1890 | #405 | 40 |
| 1880 | #671 | 8 |
How popular is Shirley, counting every spelling?
Shirley is the most common spelling of a name family that ranked #1,441 for girls in 2025 once every spelling is counted together, compared with #1,586 for Shirley on its own. Together these spellings went to 133 girls in 2025.
| Spelling | Babies 2025 | Official rank | Babies 2021–2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shirley | 133 | #1,586 | 662 |
Spellings count together when they sound the same in American English and are used for the same sex; nicknames and forms that sound different (such as Theo and Theodore) are kept apart. How we group spellings.
How many kids will share the name Shirley?
133 of the 3,606,400 babies born in the US in 2025 were named Shirley (0.04 per 1,000 births). For a girl named Shirley born in 2025, the chance that another child with the same name is in a class of 20 children the same age is under 1 in 50. If every grade liked the name as much as the 2025 babies do, only about one elementary school in 63 (of 430 pupils) would have a child named Shirley.
Shares of all registered births (NCHS); classes assumed to be children born the same year. How we estimate this.
How old are people named Shirley?
About 292,900 people born in the US named Shirley are alive today, with a median age of 77; half are between 69 and 84. That makes Shirley a name most people associate with older generations.
Babies given the name each year (SSA) times the share of that birth year still alive (SSA life tables). Counts people born in the US only. Method.
Shirley by state
How common Shirley was among girls born in each state in 2021–2025. It is notably more common than nationally in New York (2.1×). In 32 states fewer than five girls a year got the name, too few for SSA to publish, so those states show as zero.
Names with a similar history
These names rose and fell in step with Shirley: their share of US girls followed the most similar curve since 1880. If you like Shirley, they share its era and feel.
Middle names for Shirley · Sibling names for Shirley
Questions about the name Shirley
What does Shirley mean?
Shirley means “bright clearing; shire meadow” (English, Old English origin). Certainty: well established.
How popular is the name Shirley?
Shirley was the 1586th most popular name for girls in 2025, given to 133 babies. Its best year was 1935, when it ranked 2nd with 42,366 babies. Over the last ten years it has moved down 272 places. More babies were named Shirley in the 1930s than in any other decade.
Is Shirley a boy or girl name?
In 2021–2025, almost always a girl’s name given the name Shirley in the US.
Where is Shirley most popular?
In 2021–2025, Shirley was most common in New York (0.17 per 1,000 girls), followed by Ohio and California.