Shirl
A feminine diminutive form of the name Shirley or Sharon.
Name Census estimates that about 1,188 living Americans carry the first name Shirl. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 74.7% of registrations being female. The average person named Shirl today is around 65 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shirl births was 1964 (216 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shirl. 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
- • Shirl started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • The typical person named Shirl is about 65 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Shirls were born before 1971.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 288,514 Americans
Peak year
1964
216 babies that year
Average age
65
years old
1966 SSA rank
#4,450
Tracked since 1915
Census
Shirl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,568 people with the first name Shirl, which placed it at #9,041 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
#9,041
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,568 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shirl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirl is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Shirl 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 Shirl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.4% · 962
- Black or African American31.8% · 499
- Two or more races2.6% · 40
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 16
Gender
Gender distribution for Shirl
Shirl is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,771 total registrations, 448 (25.3%) were male and 1,323 (74.7%) were female.
Shirl as a male name
- Ranked #4,450 in 1966
- 5 male births in 1966
- Peak: 1938 (22 births)
Shirl as a female name
- Ranked #11,781 in 1983
- 5 female births in 1983
- Peak: 1964 (210 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shirl leans strongly female. 1,384 people counted with this name were female (87.9%), compared with 191 male bearers (12.1%).
Popularity
Shirl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shirl from the 1910s through to the 1980s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 814 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shirl 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 Shirl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shirls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 20 states and territories. Pennsylvania, Texas, Maryland recorded the most babies named Shirl, while New Jersey, Arkansas, Louisiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shirl
The name Shirl is a diminutive form of the English name Shirley, which itself is derived from the Old English word "scīr" meaning "bright" or "brilliant." This name originated in England and has been in use since the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Shirl can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is listed as "Schireleia," referring to a village in the county of Derbyshire.
In terms of historical figures, Shirl was not a particularly common name, but there are a few notable individuals who bore this name. One such person was Shirl Hendryx (1899-1980), an American actress and vaudeville performer who appeared in several Broadway productions and films in the early 20th century.
Another prominent figure with the name Shirl was Shirl Garlock (1916-1998), an American artist and illustrator who was particularly known for her work in children's literature. Her illustrations appeared in numerous books, including the popular "Little House on the Prairie" series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
In the realm of sports, Shirl Hertzer (1923-2006) was a professional baseball player who spent several seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League during the 1940s and 1950s. She was one of the league's top pitchers and helped pave the way for greater opportunities for women in professional sports.
The name Shirl also has literary connections. Shirl Hendryx (1908-1986) was an American writer and educator who authored several books on teaching methods and child development. Her works were widely influential in the field of education during the mid-20th century.
Finally, Shirl Penney (1927-2012) was a Canadian entrepreneur and business executive who co-founded the successful retail chain Dynasty Furniture Ltd. She was a pioneer in the furniture industry and played a significant role in the company's growth and success over several decades.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Shirl throughout history. While not a particularly common name, it has a rich heritage and has been associated with individuals from various fields and backgrounds.
People
Shirl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shirl 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
Shirl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shirl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,188 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shirl 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 288,514 US residents.
Is Shirl a common name?
We classify Shirl as "Rare". It ranks above 91.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,771 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shirl most popular?
The single biggest year for Shirl was 1964, when 216 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shirl is about 65 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shirl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,568 people with the name Shirl, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,041 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 Shirl 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 Shirl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shirl leans strongly female. 1,384 people counted with this name were female (87.9%), compared with 191 male bearers (12.1%). 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 Shirl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirl is White at 61.4%. The next largest groups are Black (31.8%) and Two or More Races (2.6%). 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 Shirl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shirl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.4% (962 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 Shirl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shirl a female name?
Yes, 74.7% of people registered as Shirl 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 Shirl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shirl 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 Shirl 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 Shirl?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.