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Shirlene vs Shirleyann

American parents have registered 4,856 Shirlenes since 1880, against 576 Shirleyanns. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Shirlene against Shirleyann, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Shirlene Shirleyann

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 82 years in which either name was published, Shirlene for 79 years and Shirleyann for 3 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Shirlene Shirleyann
Total US births 4,856576
Most in one year 15959
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 3,400260
Median age today 6879
Peak year 19561935
Best rank 782nd girls896th girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19231923
Girls / boys 4,856 / 0576 / 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 Shirleyanns alive today are over 79; half the Shirlenes are over 68. That is 11 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: Shirlene and Shirleyann.