US baby names · Girls · 1880–2025
Shirley: name popularity by year
How often US parents chose Shirley for a baby girl, year by year, from Social Security Administration records. When it peaked, how long it stayed in the top 10, and which generation it belongs to.
Shirley was one of the 10 most common girls' names in the US in 14 years, between 1927 and 1941, reaching #2. Births peaked in 1935, when 42,366 baby girls were named Shirley, so by peak year it is a Silent Generation name.
Shirley in the US top 10, by year
Rank among girls' names, #1 at the top. Blank years: outside the top 10. Dashed line: the year with the most babies named Shirley (1935).
Top-10 years by generation
| Generation | Years in top 10 | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| Greatest Generation | 1 (1927) | #9 |
| Silent Generation | 13 (1928–1941) | #2 |
Questions people ask
When was the name Shirley most popular?
By number of babies, in 1935, when 42,366 girls were given the name. By rank, it reached #2 and spent 14 years in the top 10.
What generation is the name Shirley?
Its peak year, 1935, falls in Silent Generation (1928–1945). Its 14 top-10 years fall in: Greatest Generation (1), Silent Generation (13).
How many people have been named Shirley?
SSA counted 686,383 girls named Shirley born from 1880 to 2025. That is births, not people alive today, and it misses many people born before 1937 who never applied for a Social Security card.
In the top 10 at the same time
Source: US Social Security Administration baby-name data, from Social Security card applications for births in the 50 states and the District of Columbia, 1880–2025. Many people born before 1937 never applied for a card, so early years undercount. Spellings are counted separately. We hold each year's top 10 in rank order and each name's peak-year and all-time counts, so the chart shows rank rather than births per year. This page gives no meaning or origin for the name and no estimate of how many people named Shirley are alive today.