Shila
A feminine Hindu name of Sanskrit origin meaning "stone" or "rock".
Name Census estimates that about 1,002 living Americans carry the first name Shila. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shila today is around 36 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shila births was 1980 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shila. 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 Shila with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 342,070 Americans
Peak year
1980
28 babies that year
Average age
36
years old
2023 SSA rank
#17,252
Tracked since 1941
Census
Shila in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,664 people with the first name Shila, which placed it at #8,666 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
#8,666
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,664 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shila
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shila is White at 40.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.0%) and Black (14.1%). 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 Shila 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 Shila at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.7% · 677
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.0% · 482
- Black or African American14.1% · 234
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 153
- Two or more races5.3% · 88
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 30
Popularity
Shila: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shila from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 239 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shila 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 Shila during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shilas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shila
The name Shila is believed to have originated from the Sanskrit language, which has its roots in ancient India. The Sanskrit word "shila" means "rock" or "stone," and it is often associated with qualities such as strength, durability, and resilience.
In Hinduism, there are references to the name Shila in various scriptures and texts. One of the earliest mentions of the name can be found in the Mahabharata, an ancient Indian epic poem that dates back to around the 8th century BCE. In the Mahabharata, Shila is the name of a character who is described as a powerful warrior and a skilled archer.
Another notable historical reference to the name Shila comes from the ancient Indian text, the Upanishads. In the Upanishads, Shila is mentioned as a sage who imparted wisdom and spiritual knowledge to his disciples.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Shila. One of the earliest recorded examples is Shila, an Indian mathematician and astronomer who lived during the 6th century CE. He is known for his contributions to the development of the Indian calendrical system and his work on the concept of zero.
Another prominent figure with the name Shila was Shila Devi, a 17th-century Indian queen who ruled the kingdom of Garhwal in present-day Uttarakhand, India. She is renowned for her military prowess and her efforts to protect her kingdom from foreign invaders.
In the field of literature, Shila Dhar was a prominent Indian poet and writer who lived in the 20th century. Born in 1908, she is best known for her poetic works that explored themes of love, nature, and spirituality.
Shila Vikal was an Indian social activist and environmentalist who dedicated her life to the preservation of natural resources and the promotion of sustainable living practices. Born in 1951, she founded the Beej Bachao Andolan (Save the Seeds Movement) and worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the importance of seed conservation.
Another notable figure with the name Shila was Shila Ghosh, an Indian classical dancer and choreographer who lived from 1920 to 2007. She was instrumental in reviving and popularizing the Manipuri dance form, a traditional dance style from the state of Manipur in northeastern India.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the name Shila. While the name may have its roots in ancient India and the Sanskrit language, it has transcended cultural and geographical boundaries and has been embraced by people from various backgrounds and regions.
People
Shila + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shila 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
Shila: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shila?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,002 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shila 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 342,070 US residents.
Is Shila a common name?
We classify Shila as "Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,080 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shila most popular?
The single biggest year for Shila was 1980, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shila is about 36 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shila in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,664 people with the name Shila, or 0.55 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,666 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 Shila 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 Shila?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shila appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,666 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Shila?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shila is White at 40.7%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.0%) and Black (14.1%). 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 Shila most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shila in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.7% (677 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 Shila in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shila a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shila 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 Shila still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shila 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 Shila 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 Shila?
Find out how many Americans are named Shila on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.