Sharil
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "lion king".
Name Census estimates that about 32 living Americans carry the first name Sharil. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharil today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharil births was 1962 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharil. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Sharil is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sharils were born before 1971.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sharil. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
32
~ 1 in 10,711,073 Americans
Peak year
1962
9 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1964 SSA rank
#5,907
Tracked since 1956
Census
Sharil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 134 people with the first name Sharil, which placed it at #48,062 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
#48,062
National first-name rank
People counted
134
134 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharil is White at 70.9%. The next largest groups are Black (14.9%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Sharil 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 Sharil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.9% · 95
- Black or African American14.9% · 20
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 6
- Two or more races2.2% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 1
Popularity
Sharil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharil from the 1950s through to the 1960s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 28 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharil 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 Sharil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharil
The name Sharil has its origins in the Arabic language and culture, with roots dating back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Arabic word "sharr," which means "evil" or "harm," and is often interpreted as a name meaning "protector from evil." The name is believed to have first gained popularity among the Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula during the early days of Islam.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharil can be found in the writings of the famous Arab historian and scholar, Ibn Khaldun, who lived in the 14th century. He mentions a prominent figure named Sharil ibn Abi Bakr, a respected military commander and advisor to the Umayyad caliphs. This historical reference suggests that the name was in use among the Arab nobility and elite circles during the medieval period.
In the following centuries, the name Sharil continued to be used across the Arab world, with several notable individuals bearing this name. One such example is Sharil al-Andalusi, a renowned poet and philosopher from the 11th century who hailed from the Andalusian region of modern-day Spain. His works and contributions to the fields of literature and philosophy have left a lasting impact on Arabic culture.
Another prominent figure with the name Sharil was Sharil al-Idrisi, a renowned Arab geographer and cartographer who lived in the 12th century. He is best known for his groundbreaking work, the Nuzhat al-Mushtaq, a detailed geographic compendium that included a remarkable world map, which was an impressive achievement for its time.
In the realm of Islamic scholarship, Sharil al-Ghazali, a revered theologian and jurist from the 11th century, stands out. His influential works, such as the Ihya' Ulum al-Din (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), have had a profound impact on Islamic thought and jurisprudence over the centuries.
Moving forward in time, Sharil al-Baghdadi, an Iraqi poet and writer from the 19th century, also carried this name. His poetic works and literary contributions have earned him recognition as one of the pioneers of the Arabic literary renaissance during the late Ottoman period.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Sharil, reflecting its enduring presence and significance within Arabic culture and the broader Islamic world.
People
Sharil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharil 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
Sharil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 32 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharil 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 10,711,073 US residents.
Is Sharil a common name?
We classify Sharil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 47.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 41 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharil most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharil was 1962, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharil is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 134 people with the name Sharil, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,062 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 Sharil 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 Sharil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharil leans strongly female. 130 people counted with this name were female (92.2%), compared with 11 male bearers (7.8%). 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 Sharil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharil is White at 70.9%. The next largest groups are Black (14.9%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Sharil most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sharil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.9% (95 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 Sharil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharil a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharil 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 Sharil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharil 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 Sharil 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 people share the name Sharil?
Want to know how many people have the name Sharil? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.