Shalee
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the willow grove".
Name Census estimates that about 1,029 living Americans carry the first name Shalee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shalee today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shalee births was 1993 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shalee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 333,095 Americans
Peak year
1993
61 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2014 SSA rank
#16,216
Tracked since 1968
Census
Shalee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 995 people with the first name Shalee, which placed it at #12,481 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#12,481
National first-name rank
People counted
995
995 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
74.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shalee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shalee is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Shalee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Shalee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White74.9% · 745
- Black or African American7.6% · 76
- Hispanic or Latino6.5% · 65
- Two or more races5.7% · 57
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 26
Popularity
Shalee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shalee from the 1960s through to the 2010s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 399 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shalee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Shalee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shalees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Utah, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Shalee, while Oklahoma, Nebraska, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 17 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shalee
The name Shalee is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which is an ancient Indo-Aryan language that originated in the Indian subcontinent. The name is thought to be derived from the Sanskrit word "shalya," which means "dart" or "arrow." This suggests that the name may have been associated with warriors or hunters in ancient Indian culture.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shalee can be found in the ancient Hindu text, the Mahabharata, which is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India. In this epic, Shalee is mentioned as a name of a character, though details about the character are scarce.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shalee. One of the earliest recorded individuals was Shalee Ibn Khalid, an Arab poet and scholar who lived in the 8th century CE. He was known for his contributions to Arabic literature and his skills in poetry.
Another historical figure with the name Shalee was Shalee Begum, who was a prominent Indian poet and writer during the Mughal Empire in the 16th century. She was known for her contributions to Urdu literature and her influential works that explored themes of love, spirituality, and societal issues.
In the 18th century, there was Shalee Devi, a Hindu queen and ruler of the princely state of Jaipur in India. She was renowned for her patronage of the arts and her efforts in promoting education and cultural development during her reign.
Moving forward in time, Shalee Manjrekar was an Indian film director and screenwriter who lived from 1955 to 2015. She was recognized for her critically acclaimed films that explored social issues and human relationships.
Lastly, Shalee Gupta is a contemporary Indian fashion designer and entrepreneur who has gained recognition for her sustainable and ethical fashion brand. She has been instrumental in promoting eco-friendly and socially responsible practices in the fashion industry.
While the name Shalee may have evolved and gained popularity in various cultures and regions over time, its origins can be traced back to the ancient Sanskrit language and the rich cultural heritage of the Indian subcontinent.
People
Shalee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shalee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shalee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shalee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,029 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shalee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 333,095 US residents.
Is Shalee a common name?
We classify Shalee as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,074 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shalee most popular?
The single biggest year for Shalee was 1993, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shalee is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shalee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 995 people with the name Shalee, or 0.33 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12,481 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Shalee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Shalee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shalee leans strongly female. 974 people counted with this name were female (98.5%), compared with 15 male bearers (1.5%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Shalee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shalee is White at 74.9%. The next largest groups are Black (7.6%) and Hispanic (6.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Shalee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shalee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 74.9% (745 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Shalee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shalee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shalee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Shalee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shalee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Shalee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Shalee?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.