How Many People Are Named Shelagh?
An estimated 412 people in the United States have the first name Shelagh. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 57 years old, and Shelagh peaked in popularity in 1950 with 22 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Shelagh as a first name in the United States, including gender data, a year-by-year popularity timeline going back to 1880, a decade breakdown, and state-by-state birth registrations. You can also check how many people share the full name Shelagh paired with any surname.
Estimated Living Americans
412
About 1 in 831,928 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Very Rare
Predicted Gender
Female
100.0% confidence
Average Age
57
years old
Peak Year
1950
22 births
Total Registered
510
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Shelagh
Shelagh is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 510 total births registered, 100.0% were female.
Shelagh as a female name
Ranked #16,522 in 1999
5 female births in 1999
Peak: 1950 (22 births)
Shelagh: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Shelagh span from the 1940s to the 1990s, covering 6 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1960s, when 178 babies were registered. Shelagh has declined significantly from its peak in the 1960s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Shelagh by Decade
How has Shelagh tracked across different eras? The table below groups all SSA birth registrations into 10-year periods, with separate male and female counts. The colored bar shows each decade's share relative to the peak.
Shelagh by State
Shelagh + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Shelagh as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Shelagh
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
Shelagh: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shelagh?
We estimate approximately 412 people named Shelagh are alive in the United States today. This is based on SSA birth records from 1880 to 2024, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables. About 1 in 831,928 Americans share this first name.
Is Shelagh a common name?
Shelagh is classified as "Very Rare" and is more popular than 82.6% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 510 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Shelagh most popular?
Shelagh reached peak popularity in 1950, when 22 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Shelagh is approximately 57 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Shelagh a female name?
Shelagh is predominantly female. 100.0% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Shelagh Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Shelagh Smith, Shelagh Johnson, Shelagh Williams. You can also search any combination on our homepage.
Where does this data come from?
Our estimates use Social Security Administration birth records (1880 to 2024), adjusted for survival using CDC 2023 life tables broken down by sex. The U.S. population figure (342,754,338) is from the Census Bureau's July 2025 estimate. Full methodology.
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