Sharlee
A feminine variant of the French name Charlotte, meaning "petite and feminine".
Name Census estimates that about 505 living Americans carry the first name Sharlee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharlee today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharlee births was 1990 (22 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharlee. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sharlee with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
505
~ 1 in 678,721 Americans
Peak year
1990
22 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2015 SSA rank
#14,282
Tracked since 1928
Census
Sharlee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 561 people with the first name Sharlee, which placed it at #19,036 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
#19,036
National first-name rank
People counted
561
561 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharlee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharlee is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Sharlee 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 Sharlee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.3% · 445
- Black or African American7.5% · 42
- Two or more races5.5% · 31
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 10
Popularity
Sharlee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharlee from the 1920s through to the 2010s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 145 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharlee 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 Sharlee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sharlees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharlee
The given name Sharlee is a relatively modern derivation or variant spelling of the more traditional feminine name Charlotte. Charlotte can be traced back to the French feminine form of the Germanic name Carolus, which is derived from the Old High German words 'karl' meaning man or husband and 'leit' meaning people or race. The name Carolus was later Latinized as Carolus, which eventually evolved into the name Charles in English, as well as the feminine form Charlotte.
Sharlee is believed to have originated as an alternative spelling or nickname variation of Charlotte, potentially influenced by the similar-sounding name Sharon. While the exact origin and etymology of Sharlee are somewhat uncertain, it likely emerged as a creative or personalized version of the more traditional Charlotte in the 20th century.
The earliest recorded examples of the name Sharlee are relatively recent, with most instances appearing in the mid-to-late 20th century. Some historical figures who bore the name Sharlee include Sharlee Hubert, an American author and historian who wrote extensively about New England history in the late 20th century. Another notable Sharlee was Sharlee Dianne Jeter, an American singer and actress who was active in the 1960s and 1970s.
Among the more famous individuals with the name Sharlee is Sharlee Roberti, an American actress and dancer who appeared in several Broadway musicals and television shows in the 1960s and 1970s. Sharlee Jeter, a former professional basketball player and coach in the WNBA, was also a prominent figure in the early 2000s. Additionally, Sharlee Petz, an American author and editor, has published numerous books and articles on various topics ranging from travel to self-help.
While the name Sharlee may not have a extensive historical lineage, its connection to the more traditional Charlotte and its unique spelling have contributed to its growing popularity as a given name in recent decades.
People
Sharlee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharlee 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
Sharlee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharlee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 505 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharlee 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 678,721 US residents.
Is Sharlee a common name?
We classify Sharlee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 635 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharlee most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharlee was 1990, when 22 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharlee is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharlee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 561 people with the name Sharlee, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,036 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 Sharlee 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 Sharlee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharlee appears almost entirely female. Of the 559 people counted with this name, 99.1% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Sharlee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharlee is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Two or More Races (5.5%). 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 Sharlee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sharlee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (445 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 Sharlee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharlee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharlee 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 Sharlee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharlee 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 Sharlee 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 have Sharlee as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.