Baby name

Shirley

Girl

Origin of the name

Shirley was first an English place name and surname, ending in the Old English lēah, “clearing.” Charlotte Brontë's novel Shirley (1849) made it a girl's name, and the child actress Shirley Temple was its most famous bearer when it peaked in the 1930s.

Short-lived name

The high point came in 1935, with 42,366 births and the No. 2 spot that year. Since then, the name has fallen 99%, to about 132 births a year. In 2025, it ranked No. 1581. 33% of all babies named Shirley since 1880 were born in the 1930s.

686,383births since 1880

1930sgeneration

No. 2rank at its peak, in 1935

Where babies named Shirley are born

1935

Year shown on the map

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The darker the blue, the more common Shirley is in the state, compared with its births. White: no births published that year.

Where it is most popular

Compared with the national average, Shirley is most common in Vermont (1.8 times), South Dakota (1.8) and Mississippi (1.8), taking into account all births in each state since 1910.

One letter apart

Shirlee 5,709
Sherley 1,238
Shirly 1,042

Names from the same era

Joan · Betty · Sylvia · Joyce · Norma · Doris

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