Shirley
Meaning
bright meadow
Honoring congresswoman and presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm, carried with pride.
The story
Shirley means bright meadow, and its history has two hinges. Charlotte Brontë supplied the first in 1849: her heroine Shirley Keeldar carried what was then a masculine name, and the novel single-handedly moved it to the girls' column. Shirley Temple supplied the second. The US curve shows a 1930s spike taller than almost anything else in our records, the decade a curly-haired child star made Shirley one of the top names in America, followed by an equally steep collapse to zero from the 1970s onward. One novel, one child, one unforgettable generation: few names show fashion's full power this clearly. The curve is not evidence that Brontë or Temple explains every choice, but together the dates make their cultural force hard to miss.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Shirley peaked in the 1930s.
Popularity in Brazil
42,827 people · the #633 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 4,739 · median age 43
Among people named Shirley living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 1980s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 81 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Shirley
People given the name Shirley in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1940 to 1959. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Shirley deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Shirley truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Shirley fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
English-Brazilian names · African American baby names · Names of revolutionaries and liberators
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