Sheilla
A feminine name of Irish origin meaning "blind" or "having vision problems".
Name Census estimates that about 352 living Americans carry the first name Sheilla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sheilla today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sheilla births was 1962 (23 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sheilla. 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
352
~ 1 in 973,734 Americans
Peak year
1962
23 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2001 SSA rank
#17,549
Tracked since 1941
Census
Sheilla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 630 people with the first name Sheilla, which placed it at #17,487 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
#17,487
National first-name rank
People counted
630
630 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
39.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sheilla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheilla is White at 39.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.0%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Sheilla 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 Sheilla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White39.5% · 249
- Black or African American26.0% · 164
- Hispanic or Latino19.2% · 121
- Asian and Pacific Islander11.1% · 70
- Two or more races3.5% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Sheilla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sheilla from the 1940s through to the 2000s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 131 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sheilla 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 Sheilla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sheillas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sheilla
The name Sheilla is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the French name Céline or the Italian name Celina, which ultimately traces its roots back to the Latin word "caelestis," meaning "heavenly" or "celestial." It is believed to have emerged as a variant spelling of the name Sheila during the 19th century.
The earliest recorded use of the name Sheilla can be traced back to the late 1800s in England, where it was likely adopted as a variant of the more common spelling Sheila. One of the earliest known individuals with this name was Sheilla Willoughby, an English author and poet born in 1878.
In the early 20th century, the name Sheilla gained some popularity, particularly in English-speaking countries. Notable individuals with this name include Sheilla Jones (1902-1978), an American stage and film actress who appeared in several Broadway productions and Hollywood films during the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable figure was Sheilla Gillespie (1918-1995), a British writer and journalist who worked as a war correspondent during World War II. Her memoirs, "One Woman's War," provided a firsthand account of her experiences covering the conflict.
Sheilla Burgess (1923-2010) was an Australian actress and singer who enjoyed a successful career on stage, television, and radio. She was particularly renowned for her performances in musicals and operettas.
In the literary world, Sheilla Burnford (1918-1984) was a Canadian author best known for her novel "The Incredible Journey," which was later adapted into a popular film. The book tells the story of two dogs and a cat who embark on a perilous journey across the Canadian wilderness.
While not as common as some other variants, the name Sheilla has maintained a presence throughout history, with individuals bearing this name making notable contributions in various fields, including literature, performing arts, journalism, and more.
People
Sheilla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sheilla 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
Sheilla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sheilla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 352 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sheilla 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 973,734 US residents.
Is Sheilla a common name?
We classify Sheilla as "Very Rare". It ranks above 81% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 450 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sheilla most popular?
The single biggest year for Sheilla was 1962, when 23 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sheilla is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sheilla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 630 people with the name Sheilla, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,487 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 Sheilla 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 Sheilla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sheilla appears almost entirely female. Of the 623 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Sheilla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheilla is White at 39.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.0%) and Hispanic (19.2%). 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 Sheilla most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sheilla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 39.5% (249 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 Sheilla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sheilla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sheilla 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 Sheilla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sheilla 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 Sheilla 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 are called Sheilla?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.