Humanverse

Shianne vs Shirlene

American parents have registered 4,856 Shirlenes since 1880, against 3,876 Shiannes. But in 2025 it was Shianne that was commoner, 10 babies to fewer than five.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Shianne against Shirlene, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Shianne Shirlene

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

Of the 102 years in which either name was published, Shirlene for 60 years and Shianne for 42 years. The lead changed hands once.

Side by side

  Shianne Shirlene
Total US births 3,8764,856
Most in one year 280159
Babies in 2025 10under 5
Estimated living today 3,8003,400
Median age today 2568
Peak year 19971956
Best rank 756th girls782nd girls
Rank in 2025 9,457thunranked
First recorded 19731923
Girls / boys 3,876 / 04,856 / 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 Shirlenes alive today are over 68; half the Shiannes are over 25. That is 43 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

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