Sherly
A feminine name of English origin, a diminutive form of Cheryl.
Name Census estimates that about 993 living Americans carry the first name Sherly. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherly today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherly births was 2008 (50 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherly. 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
993
~ 1 in 345,171 Americans
Peak year
2008
50 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,341
Tracked since 1952
Census
Sherly in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,177 people with the first name Sherly, which placed it at #5,418 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
#5,418
National first-name rank
People counted
3.2K
3,177 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
31.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherly
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherly is Hispanic at 31.8%. The next largest groups are White (25.1%) and Black (23.3%). 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 Sherly 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 Sherly at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino31.8% · 1,010
- White25.1% · 799
- Black or African American23.3% · 740
- Asian and Pacific Islander18.2% · 579
- Two or more races0.9% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 21
Popularity
Sherly: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherly from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 316 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Sherly remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sherly 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 Sherly during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sherlys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. New York, California, New Jersey recorded the most babies named Sherly, while Texas, North Carolina, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 42 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherly
The name Sherly is a variant of the English name Shirley, which has its origins in the Old English words "scir" meaning "bright" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing." The name was originally a place name referring to a bright meadow or clearing, and it later became a personal name.
The earliest recorded use of the name Shirley as a personal name dates back to the 12th century in England. One of the earliest known bearers of the name was Philip de Shirley, who lived in the late 12th century and was a landowner in Derbyshire, England.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Sherly or Shirley. One of the most famous was Shirley Chisholm, an American politician and author who lived from 1924 to 2005. She was the first African American woman elected to the United States Congress, serving from 1969 to 1983, and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972.
Another notable bearer of the name was Shirley Temple, an American actress and diplomat who lived from 1928 to 2014. She was a child star during the Great Depression and was one of the most popular and talented child actors of her time, appearing in films such as "Bright Eyes" and "Curly Top."
In literature, Shirley is the title of a novel by Charlotte Brontë, published in 1849. The novel's protagonist is a young woman named Shirley Keeldar, who is portrayed as a strong and independent character.
Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm, an American politician and author, lived from 1924 to 2005. She was the first African American woman elected to the United States Congress, serving from 1969 to 1983, and was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972.
Shirley Temple, an American actress and diplomat, lived from 1928 to 2014. She was a child star during the Great Depression and was one of the most popular and talented child actors of her time, appearing in films such as "Bright Eyes" and "Curly Top."
People
Sherly + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherly 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
Sherly: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherly?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 993 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherly 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 345,171 US residents.
Is Sherly a common name?
We classify Sherly as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,050 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherly most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherly was 2008, when 50 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherly is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sherly in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,177 people with the name Sherly, or 1.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,418 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 Sherly 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 Sherly?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherly appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,181 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Sherly?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherly is Hispanic at 31.8%. The next largest groups are White (25.1%) and Black (23.3%). 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 Sherly most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sherly in the 2020 Census, accounting for 31.8% (1,010 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 Sherly in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherly a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherly 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 Sherly still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherly 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 Sherly 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 the name Sherly?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Sherly, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.