Shirlee
A feminine name of English origin meaning "bright meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 1,823 living Americans carry the first name Shirlee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shirlee today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shirlee births was 1935 (340 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shirlee. 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
- • The typical person named Shirlee is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Shirlees were born before 1964.
People living today
1.8K
~ 1 in 188,017 Americans
Peak year
1935
340 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1929 SSA rank
#4,464
Tracked since 1915
Census
Shirlee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,021 people with the first name Shirlee, which placed it at #5,610 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
#5,610
National first-name rank
People counted
3.0K
3,021 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shirlee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirlee is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Shirlee 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 Shirlee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.3% · 2,577
- Black or African American7.5% · 227
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 69
- Two or more races2.2% · 66
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 44
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 38
Gender
Gender distribution for Shirlee
Out of the 5,714 babies given the name Shirlee since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Shirlee as a male name
- Ranked #4,464 in 1929
- 5 male births in 1929
- Peak: 1929 (5 births)
Shirlee as a female name
- Ranked #17,275 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1935 (340 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shirlee appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,017 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Shirlee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shirlee from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 1,685 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shirlee 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 Shirlee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shirlees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. Illinois, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Shirlee, while South Dakota, Montana, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 112 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shirlee
The name Shirlee is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the Old English word "scir," meaning "bright" or "shining." It is a variant spelling of the more common name Shirley, which first appeared in written records during the 12th century.
The earliest known recorded use of the name Shirlee dates back to the late 16th century in England. It gained popularity as a female name during the 19th century, particularly in the United States, where it was often used as a diminutive form of Shirley.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Shirlee was Shirlee Busbee (1941-2006), an American writer and author of romance novels. She published over 50 novels during her career and was a recipient of the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Award.
Another prominent figure with the name Shirlee was Shirlee Kendrick (1941-2005), an American country music singer and songwriter. She had several hits on the Billboard country charts in the 1970s and 1980s, including "Lovesick Blues" and "Don't Bother to Knock."
In the field of academia, Shirlee Roby Taylor (1924-2012) was an American mathematician and computer scientist. She made significant contributions to the development of computer programming languages and was a pioneer in the field of computer science education.
Shirlee Buxton (1933-2010) was a British actress known for her roles in television series such as The Avengers and The Saint. She appeared in numerous films and TV shows throughout her career, which spanned over five decades.
Shirlee Joan Finn (1931-2018) was an Australian artist and sculptor. She was known for her abstract sculptural works and was a recipient of the Order of Australia for her contributions to the arts.
While the name Shirlee has its roots in Old English, it has been embraced by various cultures and communities around the world, reflecting the diverse and rich tapestry of human naming traditions.
People
Shirlee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shirlee 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
Shirlee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shirlee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,823 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shirlee 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 188,017 US residents.
Is Shirlee a common name?
We classify Shirlee as "Rare". It ranks above 93.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,714 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shirlee most popular?
The single biggest year for Shirlee was 1935, when 340 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shirlee is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shirlee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,021 people with the name Shirlee, or 1.00 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,610 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 Shirlee 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 Shirlee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shirlee appears almost entirely female. Of the 3,017 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Shirlee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirlee is White at 85.3%. The next largest groups are Black (7.5%) and Hispanic (2.3%). 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 Shirlee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shirlee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.3% (2,577 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 Shirlee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shirlee a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Shirlee 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 Shirlee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shirlee 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 Shirlee 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 common is the name Shirlee?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.