Sheyla
A feminine name of Arabic origin meaning "smooth and even", or "well-behaved".
Name Census estimates that about 4,093 living Americans carry the first name Sheyla. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sheyla today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sheyla births was 2006 (309 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sheyla. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sheyla with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
4.1K
~ 1 in 83,742 Americans
Peak year
2006
309 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,903
Tracked since 1970
Census
Sheyla in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,234 people with the first name Sheyla, which placed it at #4,425 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
#4,425
National first-name rank
People counted
4.2K
4,234 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
89.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sheyla
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheyla is Hispanic at 89.2%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Black (3.0%). 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 Sheyla 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 Sheyla at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino89.2% · 3,778
- White6.4% · 271
- Black or African American3.0% · 125
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 28
- Two or more races0.6% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 8
Popularity
Sheyla: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sheyla from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,985 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sheyla 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 Sheyla during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sheylas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Sheyla, while Massachusetts, Utah, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 142 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sheyla
The given name Sheyla has its origins in the Spanish language. It is a feminine name derived from the Hebrew name Sheila, which itself is a variant of the biblical name Shilo. The name Shilo is believed to be derived from the Hebrew word "shalom," meaning peace.
Sheyla is predominantly found in Spanish-speaking regions, particularly in Latin America and Spain. It is a popular name choice among families with Hispanic or Latino heritage. The earliest recorded instances of the name Sheyla can be traced back to the late 20th century, although the name Sheila has a longer history dating back to the Middle Ages.
While there are no direct historical references to the name Sheyla, its biblical roots in the name Shilo can be found in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the place where the Tabernacle was set up during the conquest of Canaan. The name Sheila has also been associated with various religious figures and saints throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Sheyla was Sheyla Freire, a Brazilian actress born in 1985. Another notable figure is Sheyla Hiraldo, a Dominican-American model and actress born in 1986. In the field of sports, Sheyla Castellanos is a Colombian boxer and former world champion in the super flyweight division.
Additionally, Sheyla Alvarado is a Honduran politician and activist who served as the First Lady of Honduras from 2002 to 2006. Sheyla Rojas is a Peruvian model and television personality who gained prominence in the early 2000s.
While the name Sheyla is not as widely used as some other names, it has a rich cultural heritage and has been borne by notable individuals across various fields throughout its relatively short history.
People
Sheyla + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sheyla 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
Sheyla: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sheyla?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,093 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sheyla 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 83,742 US residents.
Is Sheyla a common name?
We classify Sheyla as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,162 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sheyla most popular?
The single biggest year for Sheyla was 2006, when 309 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sheyla is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sheyla in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,234 people with the name Sheyla, or 1.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,425 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 Sheyla 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 Sheyla?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sheyla appears almost entirely female. Of the 4,225 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Sheyla?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheyla is Hispanic at 89.2%. The next largest groups are White (6.4%) and Black (3.0%). 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 Sheyla most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Sheyla in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.2% (3,778 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 Sheyla in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sheyla a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sheyla 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 Sheyla still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sheyla 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 Sheyla 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 share the name Sheyla?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.