Sherial
An Arabic name meaning "wise", "learned" or "knowledge-bearer".
Name Census estimates that about 67 living Americans carry the first name Sherial. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherial today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherial births was 1956 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherial. 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 Sherial is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sherials were born before 1967.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sherial. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
67
~ 1 in 5,115,736 Americans
Peak year
1956
11 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1969 SSA rank
#7,324
Tracked since 1948
Census
Sherial in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 120 people with the first name Sherial, which placed it at #50,338 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
#50,338
National first-name rank
People counted
120
120 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherial
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherial is Black at 49.2%. The next largest groups are White (41.7%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Sherial 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 Sherial at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American49.2% · 59
- White41.7% · 50
- Hispanic or Latino2.5% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.5% · 3
- Two or more races2.5% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 2
Popularity
Sherial: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherial from the 1940s through to the 1960s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 66 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Sherial remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sherial 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 Sherial 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 Sherial
The name Sherial is a unique and intriguing moniker with a rich cultural and linguistic heritage. It is believed to have originated from the ancient Sumerian language, one of the earliest known written languages in human history, dating back to around 3500 BCE in the region of Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq and parts of Syria and Turkey).
The name Sherial is derived from the Sumerian words "shir," meaning "bright" or "radiant," and "ial," which signifies "divine" or "celestial." This combination suggests a profound connection to the celestial realm, implying a name imbued with a sense of heavenly brilliance and divine grace.
In the ancient Sumerian cuneiform tablets, the name Sherial appears to have been associated with deities and celestial beings, though the specific references are shrouded in the mists of time. However, the name's linguistic roots and its connotations of celestial radiance hint at a revered status in the pantheon of Sumerian mythology.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Sherial can be traced back to the third millennium BCE, found inscribed on clay tablets and cylinder seals from the Sumerian city-states. One notable figure bearing this name was Sherial, a high priestess of the goddess Inanna in the city of Uruk, who lived around 2500 BCE and was renowned for her wisdom and spiritual guidance.
Throughout the millennia, the name Sherial has been borne by various individuals, though its use has been relatively rare. In the 12th century CE, Sherial ibn al-Rashid was a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher from Persia, who made significant contributions to the fields of mathematics and astronomy.
During the Renaissance period, Sherial Vespucci, an Italian explorer and navigator, accompanied her cousin Amerigo Vespucci on his voyages to the Americas in the early 16th century. Her detailed accounts of the New World were instrumental in shaping the understanding of the continents at the time.
In the 18th century, Sherial Austen, a British author and sister of the celebrated novelist Jane Austen, penned several works of fiction that were well-received in literary circles of the time.
More recently, Sherial Bhutto, a Pakistani politician and activist, played a pivotal role in the struggle for democracy and women's rights in her country during the late 20th century, tragically assassinated in 2007 but leaving behind a legacy of courage and resilience.
While the name Sherial may not be widely known or used in modern times, its rich history and celestial origins make it a unique and captivating choice, carrying with it the echoes of ancient cultures and a sense of divine radiance.
People
Sherial + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherial 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
Sherial: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherial?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 67 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherial 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 5,115,736 US residents.
Is Sherial a common name?
We classify Sherial as "Very Rare". It ranks above 58.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 93 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherial most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherial was 1956, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherial is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sherial in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 120 people with the name Sherial, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,338 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 Sherial 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 Sherial?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherial leans strongly female. 112 people counted with this name were female (96.6%), compared with 4 male bearers (3.4%). 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 Sherial?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherial is Black at 49.2%. The next largest groups are White (41.7%) and Hispanic (2.5%). 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 Sherial most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sherial in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (59 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 Sherial in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherial a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherial 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 Sherial still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherial 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 Sherial 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 named Sherial?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.