Shirletta
A feminine name of uncertain origin, possibly a blend of Shirley and a diminutive ending.
Name Census estimates that about 20 living Americans carry the first name Shirletta. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shirletta today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shirletta births was 1965 (7 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shirletta. 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 Shirletta. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
20
~ 1 in 17,137,717 Americans
Peak year
1965
7 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1971 SSA rank
#8,165
Tracked since 1955
Popularity
Shirletta: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shirletta 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 13 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1960s peak, Shirletta remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shirletta 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 Shirletta 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 Shirletta
The name Shirletta is a feminine form of the English name Shirley, which is derived from the place name Shirley in Derbyshire, England. The place name itself is of Anglo-Saxon origin, composed of the elements "scir" meaning "bright" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "woodland clearing."
The name Shirletta emerged as a variant spelling of Shirley in the late 19th or early 20th century, though its exact origins and first recorded use are unclear. It likely arose as a creative or intentional alteration of the more common Shirley, possibly to give it a more unique or distinctive sound.
While Shirley has a long history of use in England and can be traced back to the Middle Ages, the variant Shirletta does not appear to have any significant historical references or mentions in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records before the modern era.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shirletta was Shirletta Kimbrough, an American author and educator who published several books in the late 20th century. Another early example is Shirletta V. Metcalf, an American academic and former director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race Relations at the University of Florida.
Among other notable individuals named Shirletta are Shirletta Kinchen, an American basketball player who played in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) in the 2000s, and Shirletta Settles, an American writer and author of the novel "Zion Covenant" published in 2012.
Additionally, Shirletta Patton was an American singer and songwriter active in the 1990s and early 2000s, known for her collaborations with various R&B and hip-hop artists.
People
Shirletta + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shirletta 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
Shirletta: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shirletta?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shirletta 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 17,137,717 US residents.
Is Shirletta a common name?
We classify Shirletta as "Very Rare". It ranks above 39.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 24 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shirletta most popular?
The single biggest year for Shirletta was 1965, when 7 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shirletta is about 60 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 Shirletta in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shirletta a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shirletta 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 Shirletta still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shirletta 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 Shirletta 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 Shirletta as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.