Shirlie
A feminine name of English origin believed to derive from the combination of "shere" and "lie".
Name Census estimates that about 326 living Americans carry the first name Shirlie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shirlie today is around 78 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shirlie births was 1935 (60 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shirlie. 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 Shirlie is about 78 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Shirlies were born before 1958.
People living today
326
~ 1 in 1,051,394 Americans
Peak year
1935
60 babies that year
Average age
78
years old
1976 SSA rank
#9,067
Tracked since 1911
Census
Shirlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 523 people with the first name Shirlie, which placed it at #19,947 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
#19,947
National first-name rank
People counted
523
523 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shirlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirlie is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Black (14.7%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Shirlie 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 Shirlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.5% · 395
- Black or African American14.7% · 77
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 27
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 13
- Two or more races2.1% · 11
Popularity
Shirlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shirlie from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 398 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shirlie 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 Shirlie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shirlies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Illinois, California, Michigan recorded the most babies named Shirlie, while Washington, Pennsylvania, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shirlie
The given name Shirlie is a feminine variant of the name Shirley, which has its origins in the English language. It is derived from the Old English words "scir" meaning "bright" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing." The name essentially translates to "bright meadow."
The earliest known use of the name Shirley dates back to the 12th century, where it was initially used as a surname. It was not until the 16th century that Shirley began to be used as a given name, primarily for males. Over time, the name gained popularity as a feminine name as well.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name was Sir Thomas Shirley, an English traveler and author who lived from 1564 to 1628. Another historical figure named Shirley was Anne Shirley, a 17th-century English playwright and one of the first professional female writers in England.
In the 19th century, the name gained further prominence with the popularity of the novel "Anne of Green Gables" by Lucy Maud Montgomery, which featured the beloved character Anne Shirley. This literary work helped to popularize the name and its various spellings, including Shirlie.
During the 20th century, several notable individuals bore the name Shirlie, including Shirlie Roden, an English singer and actress who was part of the pop group Wham! and was born in 1952. Another Shirlie of note was Shirlie Mae Jones, an American singer and actress born in 1934, best known for her roles in musicals such as "Oklahoma!" and "Carousel."
Shirlie Woodmass, an English artist and sculptor, was born in 1943 and became known for her distinctive ceramic and bronze works. Additionally, Shirlie Kemp, an English singer and songwriter born in 1961, found success as part of the pop duo Pepsi & Shirlie.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who have borne the name Shirlie, showcasing its enduring popularity and cultural significance across various fields and eras.
People
Shirlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shirlie 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
Shirlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shirlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 326 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shirlie 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 1,051,394 US residents.
Is Shirlie a common name?
We classify Shirlie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 80.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,288 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shirlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Shirlie was 1935, when 60 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shirlie is about 78 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shirlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 523 people with the name Shirlie, or 0.17 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,947 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 Shirlie 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 Shirlie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shirlie leans strongly female. 505 people counted with this name were female (97.3%), compared with 14 male bearers (2.7%). 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 Shirlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirlie is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Black (14.7%) and Hispanic (5.2%). 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 Shirlie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shirlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (395 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 Shirlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shirlie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shirlie 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 Shirlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shirlie 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 Shirlie 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 Shirlie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.