Shirlon
An English feminine name of uncertain origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 14 living Americans carry the first name Shirlon. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shirlon today is around 68 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shirlon births was 1946 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shirlon. 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 Shirlon is about 68 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Shirlons were born before 1968.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Shirlon. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
14
~ 1 in 24,482,453 Americans
Peak year
1946
5 babies that year
Average age
68
years old
1965 SSA rank
#7,369
Tracked since 1946
Census
Shirlon in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 120 people with the first name Shirlon, which placed it at #50,338 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
#50,338
National first-name rank
People counted
120
120 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
60.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shirlon
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirlon is Black at 60.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.5%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Shirlon 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 Shirlon at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American60.8% · 73
- White27.5% · 33
- Two or more races5.8% · 7
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 4
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 1
Popularity
Shirlon: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shirlon from the 1940s through to the 1960s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 10 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Shirlon remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shirlon 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 Shirlon 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 Shirlon
The name Shirlon has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, one of the earliest written languages known to humankind, which flourished in the region of Mesopotamia around 3500 BCE. It is derived from the Sumerian words "shir" meaning "resplendent" and "lon" meaning "truth" or "wisdom." The combination of these words suggests that the name Shirlon was originally bestowed upon individuals who were regarded as embodiments of radiant truth or enlightened wisdom.
While the name Shirlon itself is not found in any surviving Sumerian texts or historical records, similar variations such as "Shirluanna" and "Shirlonni" have been discovered in cuneiform inscriptions on clay tablets from the ancient city of Ur. These inscriptions date back to around 2500 BCE and suggest that the name was in use during the height of the Sumerian civilization.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Shirlon was a Sumerian scribe and scholar who lived in the city of Uruk around 2300 BCE. His name is preserved on a clay tablet that details his contributions to the preservation and study of Sumerian literature and astronomical knowledge.
In the 8th century BCE, a Babylonian astronomer and mathematician named Shirlon is mentioned in the astronomical records of the Chaldean dynasty. He is credited with making significant advancements in the study of celestial bodies and the prediction of eclipses.
During the Achaemenid Persian Empire, which ruled from 550 BCE to 330 BCE, a notable figure named Shirlon served as a high-ranking military commander under King Darius I. His exploits are recorded in the Behistun Inscription, a significant archaeological find that details the early reign of Darius.
In the 2nd century CE, a Gnostic philosopher and theologian named Shirlon was active in the city of Alexandria, Egypt. He is known for his writings on the nature of the divine and the relationship between the material and spiritual realms.
In the 9th century CE, a renowned Islamic scholar and poet named Shirlon al-Basri lived in Basra, Iraq. He is celebrated for his contributions to the fields of Arabic literature and Islamic jurisprudence, and his works have been widely studied and preserved by scholars throughout the centuries.
People
Shirlon + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shirlon 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
Shirlon: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shirlon?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 14 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shirlon 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 24,482,453 US residents.
Is Shirlon a common name?
We classify Shirlon as "Very Rare". It ranks above 34% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shirlon most popular?
The single biggest year for Shirlon was 1946, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shirlon is about 68 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shirlon in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 120 people with the name Shirlon, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #50,338 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 Shirlon 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 Shirlon?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Shirlon on both sides of the split. Of the 109 people counted with this name, 23 were male (21.1%) and 86 were female (78.9%). 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 Shirlon?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shirlon is Black at 60.8%. The next largest groups are White (27.5%) and Two or More Races (5.8%). 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 Shirlon most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Shirlon in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.8% (73 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 Shirlon in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shirlon a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shirlon 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 Shirlon still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shirlon 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 Shirlon 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 Shirlon?
See how many people share the name Shirlon on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.