Sherra
A feminine name of Egyptian origin meaning "ornament" or "beautiful flower".
Name Census estimates that about 702 living Americans carry the first name Sherra. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherra today is around 57 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherra births was 1970 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherra. 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
702
~ 1 in 488,254 Americans
Peak year
1970
28 babies that year
Average age
57
years old
1998 SSA rank
#16,228
Tracked since 1937
Popularity
Sherra: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherra from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 202 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sherra 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 Sherra during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sherras live
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherra
The name Sherra is believed to have its origins in the Arabic language. It is thought to be a feminine variation of the name Sher, which means "lion" in Arabic. The name likely dates back to the early days of Islam, around the 7th century AD, when Arabic names began to spread across the Middle East and North Africa.
Sherra may also have connections to the Persian language, where the word "sher" also means "lion." This could suggest that the name has roots in the Persian culture as well, which has had a significant influence on the Arabic world throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sherra is found in a historical text from the 10th century, which mentions a woman named Sherra who was a renowned poet and scholar in the city of Baghdad, which was a center of learning and culture during the Islamic Golden Age.
In the 12th century, there was a famous Sufi mystic named Sherra al-Qadiri, who was known for her spiritual teachings and writings. She was a influential figure in the Qadiri Sufi order, which has its origins in Baghdad.
During the Ottoman Empire, which ruled over much of the Middle East and North Africa from the 14th to the early 20th century, the name Sherra was popular among the ruling classes and nobility. One notable figure was Sherra Khanum, who was a princess and the wife of Sultan Mehmed IV in the 17th century.
In more recent history, there was a Moroccan writer and activist named Sherra al-Maghribi, who lived in the early 20th century and was known for her work promoting women's rights and education in her country.
Another notable figure was Sherra Bey, an Egyptian actress and singer who was popular in the 1940s and 1950s, and is considered a pioneer of Egyptian cinema and music.
While the name Sherra is not as common today as it once was in the Arabic-speaking world, it still has a rich cultural and historical significance, reflecting the region's diverse linguistic and cultural heritage.
People
Sherra + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherra 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
Sherra: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherra?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 702 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherra 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 488,254 US residents.
Is Sherra a common name?
We classify Sherra as "Very Rare". It ranks above 87.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 897 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherra most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherra was 1970, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherra is about 57 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Sherra a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherra 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.