Shylah
A variant form of the name Shiloh, possibly derived from the Hebrew meaning "his gift" or "the sent one".
Name Census estimates that about 1,722 living Americans carry the first name Shylah. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shylah today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shylah births was 2007 (114 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shylah. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Shylah with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 199,044 Americans
Peak year
2007
114 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,259
Tracked since 1976
Census
Shylah in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,309 people with the first name Shylah, which placed it at #10,261 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
#10,261
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
47.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shylah
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shylah is White at 47.7%. The next largest groups are Black (21.2%) and Hispanic (14.4%). 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 Shylah 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 Shylah at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White47.7% · 624
- Black or African American21.2% · 278
- Hispanic or Latino14.4% · 188
- Two or more races11.2% · 147
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.5% · 46
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 26
Popularity
Shylah: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shylah from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 621 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shylah 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 Shylah during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shylahs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. California, Florida, New York recorded the most babies named Shylah, while Washington, Illinois, South Carolina recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Shylah
The name Shylah is a relatively modern name with uncertain origins. It is believed to be a variation or combination of the Hebrew name Shiloh and the English name Lyla.
Shiloh is a biblical place name that means "tranquil" or "peaceful" in Hebrew. It refers to an ancient city in Canaan where the Ark of the Covenant was kept for many years. The name Shiloh has been used as a given name, particularly among Christians, since the 19th century.
Lyla, on the other hand, is a name of Arabic origin that means "night" or "dark beauty." It is a variant of the more common name Layla, which has been used for centuries in the Arabic-speaking world.
The combination of these two names, Shylah, is thought to have emerged in the late 20th century, possibly as a creative blend or as a way to give a more unique spin to the traditional names Shiloh and Lyla.
No specific historical references or ancient texts have been found to directly mention the name Shylah. However, some notable individuals throughout history have borne this name or variations of it.
One of the earliest recorded examples is Shylah Weston, an American actress and singer who was active in the 1930s and 1940s. She appeared in several Broadway productions and films during that era.
Another notable figure is Shylah Hamilton, an American fashion model and actress who was born in 1987. She has appeared in various television shows and films, including "Desperate Housewives" and "The Mentalist."
In sports, Shylah Gilmore is an American basketball player who was born in 1995. She played college basketball for the University of Illinois and was drafted into the WNBA in 2018.
Shylah Roese is an Australian swimmer who competed in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She specializes in freestyle and butterfly events.
Lastly, Shylah Pacheco is a Canadian singer-songwriter and actress who gained recognition in the early 2000s. She has released several albums and has appeared in various television shows and films.
While the name Shylah may not have a long historical background, it has gained popularity in recent decades as a unique and melodic name choice. Its blend of Hebrew and Arabic influences gives it a distinctive and multicultural character.
People
Shylah + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shylah 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
Shylah: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shylah?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,722 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shylah 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 199,044 US residents.
Is Shylah a common name?
We classify Shylah as "Rare". It ranks above 93.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,755 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shylah most popular?
The single biggest year for Shylah was 2007, when 114 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shylah is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shylah in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,309 people with the name Shylah, or 0.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,261 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 Shylah 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 Shylah?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shylah appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,309 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Shylah?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shylah is White at 47.7%. The next largest groups are Black (21.2%) and Hispanic (14.4%). 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 Shylah most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shylah in the 2020 Census, accounting for 47.7% (624 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 Shylah in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shylah a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shylah 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 Shylah still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shylah 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 Shylah 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 Shylah?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many Americans are named Shylah at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.