Sharley
A feminine name of English origin meaning "bright meadow" or "small forest."
Name Census estimates that about 110 living Americans carry the first name Sharley. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharley today is around 47 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharley births was 2010 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharley. 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
110
~ 1 in 3,115,949 Americans
Peak year
2010
8 babies that year
Average age
47
years old
2010 SSA rank
#13,285
Tracked since 1927
Popularity
Sharley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharley 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 34 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
Sharley 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 Sharley 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 Sharley
The name Sharley is believed to have originated from the Old English or Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries AD. It is thought to be a diminutive or nickname form of the Germanic name Charlene, which itself is derived from the ancient Germanic word "karl" meaning "man" or "warrior."
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharley can be found in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, a collection of annals that recorded the history of the Anglo-Saxons in Britain from the 9th century. In these chronicles, there is mention of a woman named Sharley who was a noblewoman in the court of King Alfred the Great (849-899 AD).
Another notable figure in history with the name Sharley was Sharley Plantagenet, a 14th-century English noblewoman who was the daughter of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault. She lived from 1341 to 1362 and was known for her beauty and intelligence.
In the 16th century, there was a Sharley Dudley, who was a member of the influential Dudley family in England. She was born in 1532 and was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I.
In the realm of literature, one of the earliest known uses of the name Sharley was in the famous play "The Merry Wives of Windsor" by William Shakespeare. One of the characters in the play is named Sharley, although her role is relatively minor.
Another notable figure in history with the name Sharley was Sharley Bronte, born in 1816. She was the younger sister of the famous Bronte sisters, Charlotte and Emily, and was also a writer and poet in her own right.
While the name Sharley has its roots in ancient Germanic and Anglo-Saxon history, it has continued to be used throughout the centuries, albeit with varying levels of popularity. The name has a distinct and unique quality, reflecting its rich historical heritage.
People
Sharley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharley 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
Sharley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 110 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharley 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 3,115,949 US residents.
Is Sharley a common name?
We classify Sharley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 156 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharley most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharley was 2010, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharley is about 47 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Sharley a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharley 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.
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.