How Many People Are Named Shelia?
An estimated 36,426 people in the United States have the first name Shelia. It is almost exclusively a female name. The average bearer is 63 years old, and Shelia peaked in popularity in 1959 with 2,293 births that year.
Below you will find a full statistical profile of Shelia 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 Shelia paired with any surname.
Key Insights
- While Shelia is overwhelmingly female, 111 male births have been registered with this name since 1880.
- Shelia has fallen dramatically from its peak in the 1960s. Recent registrations are less than 5% of what they were at the name's height.
Estimated Living Americans
36,426
About 1 in 9,410 people in the U.S.
Rarity
Uncommon
Predicted Gender
Female
99.8% confidence
Average Age
63
years old
Peak Year
1959
2,293 births
Total Registered
47,891
since 1880
Gender Distribution for Shelia
Shelia is almost exclusively a female name. Out of 47,891 total births registered, 99.8% were female.
Shelia as a male name
Ranked #4,319 in 1971
7 male births in 1971
Peak: 1965 (11 births)
Shelia as a female name
Ranked #13,258 in 2023
7 female births in 2023
Peak: 1959 (2,283 births)
Shelia: Popularity Over Time
SSA records for Shelia span from the 1910s to the 2020s, covering 12 decades of naming data. The most popular decade for this name was the 1960s, when 18,503 babies were registered. Shelia has declined significantly from its peak in the 1960s. Recent registrations are a fraction of what they were at the name's height.
Shelia by Decade
How has Shelia 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.
Shelia by State
Birth registrations for Shelia span all 41 states and territories in the SSA database. The highest counts are in North Carolina, Texas, Alabama. The lowest are in Utah, Nevada, Delaware. On average, about 1,094 Shelias were registered per state.
Shelia + Last Name Combinations
How many people share a full name with Shelia as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Names Similar to Shelia
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
Shelia: Questions and Answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shelia?
We estimate approximately 36,426 people named Shelia 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 9,410 Americans share this first name.
Is Shelia a common name?
Shelia is classified as "Uncommon" and is more popular than 98.9% of all first names in the SSA database. A total of 47,891 births have been registered with this name since 1880.
When was Shelia most popular?
Shelia reached peak popularity in 1959, when 2,293 babies were given this name. The average age of a living person named Shelia is approximately 63 years old, reflecting when the name was most commonly given.
Is Shelia a female name?
Shelia is predominantly female. 99.8% of people with this name are female. See the gender breakdown above for full details.
How many Shelia Smiths are there?
To find how many people share a specific full name, we combine first name and surname frequencies. Try: Shelia Smith, Shelia Johnson, Shelia 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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