Humanverse

Sheila vs Shevawn

American parents have registered 239,422 Sheilas since 1880, against 128 Shevawns. Sheila is still ahead, with 65 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Sheila against Shevawn, 1880 to 2025 0 2.5k 5k 7.5k 10k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Sheila Shevawn

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Sheila has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1907 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1989, when Sheila had 666 and Shevawn had 7.

Side by side

  Sheila Shevawn
Total US births 239,422128
Most in one year 8,80736
Babies in 2025 65under 5
Estimated living today 190,000110
Median age today 6367
Peak year 19621955
Best rank 52nd girls1,733rd girls
Rank in 2025 2,645thunranked
First recorded 19071955
Girls / boys 238,774 / 648128 / 0

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Shevawns alive today are over 67; half the Sheilas are over 63. That is 4 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Sheila and Shevawn.