Sherrilee
A feminine name of apparent Hebrew origin, meaning "song of God".
Name Census estimates that about 35 living Americans carry the first name Sherrilee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherrilee today is around 61 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherrilee births was 1967 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherrilee. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sherrilee. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
35
~ 1 in 9,792,981 Americans
Peak year
1967
7 babies that year
Average age
61
years old
1975 SSA rank
#8,877
Tracked since 1950
Popularity
Sherrilee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherrilee from the 1950s through to the 1970s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 17 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Sherrilee remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sherrilee 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 Sherrilee 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 Sherrilee
The name Sherrilee is a variation of the English name Shirley, which itself is derived from the Old English word "scir" meaning "bright" or "fair." The name Sherrilee likely emerged as a creative spelling or elaboration of Shirley in the late 20th century.
While the name Shirley has been recorded in England since the Middle Ages, the earliest known use of the spelling Sherrilee is more recent, dating back to the mid-20th century. It is believed to have gained popularity in English-speaking countries like the United States and Australia during this time period.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Sherrilee was Sherrilee Harper Margolis, an American author and educator born in 1936. She published several books on language and communication, including "The Winding Trail: Becoming an American Universalist" in 2003.
Another early bearer of the name was Sherrilee Gray, an Australian ballet dancer and choreographer born in 1943. She had a successful career with the Australian Ballet and later founded her own dance company, the Sherrilee Gray Dance Company.
In the realm of music, Sherrilee Harper was a country music singer-songwriter from the United States, born in 1947. She had a charting single with "Whenever I'm Away From You" in 1974.
Sherrilee Bradley Hawkins, born in 1965, was an American model and actress who appeared in several films and television shows in the 1980s and 1990s, including "A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge" and "Renegades."
Lastly, Sherrilee Woodford, born in 1981, is a Canadian actress known for her roles in various television series, such as "The Killing" and "Supernatural."
While the name Sherrilee is not as common as its root name Shirley, it has been used throughout the 20th century and carries the same connotation of brightness and fairness, often associated with the name's Old English origins.
People
Sherrilee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherrilee 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
Sherrilee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherrilee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 35 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherrilee 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 9,792,981 US residents.
Is Sherrilee a common name?
We classify Sherrilee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 44 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherrilee most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherrilee was 1967, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherrilee is about 61 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Sherrilee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherrilee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherrilee 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 Sherrilee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherrilee 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 Sherrilee 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many people have the name Sherrilee?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Sherrilee, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.