Meaning not yet researched.
Shelby: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 444 in 2025. Its best rank was #33 in 1991.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #33 in 1991; #649 in 2025. About 92% of babies named Shelby in 2025 were girls.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#649 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1991, at #33.
Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for any year. Years with fewer than five babies of a sex are not published by SSA and show as zero.
Shelby: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 444 girls in 2025. Peak: #33 in 1991 · most girls in one year: 10,220 (1991).
In 2025, 444 US girls were named Shelby, making it the 649th most common girls’ name of the year, up 9 places from #658 in 2024. That is 2 fewer than the 446 girls named Shelby in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #33, reached in 1991. That year also had the most girls given the name: 10,220. For comparison, it was #300 in 2015 and #519 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Shelby in every one of the 146 years from 1880 to 2025; in 1880 there were 8 babies with the name. In all, 165,279 US babies have been given the name, 90% of them girls and 10.0% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1990s, with 75,266 babies named Shelby.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 6,197 US girls were named Shelby; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 986. In 2025 that was about 1 in 3,620 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Among the states, Shelby ranked highest in West Virginia in 2025, at #177 for girls there. It was not in the top 100 of any state. Related spellings in the SSA files include Shelbie (5,580 babies since 1880), Shelbi (5,496 babies since 1880) and Shelbey (896 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Shelbee, Shellby and Shelbia are summarised on this page.
Meaning not yet researched.
We publish a meaning only with a cited source and a confidence label, and never generate one. Meanings are being researched for the most common names first.
Wikidata records this spelling as a given name in English. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Shelbee (602), Shellby (496), Shelbia (147), Shelbea (54), Shelbye (39).
Numbers are all-time US births. Links come from Wikidata’s “said to be the same as” (P460, CC0) and our spelling rule: at most two letters different, with the same sound pattern.
No nicknames listed for Shelby in the open dataset we use.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
US girls. Rank within each state. SSA leaves out states where fewer than five girls got the name, so 24 are not listed.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank 2025 | Rank 2015 |
|---|---|---|---|
| West Virginia | 10 | #177 | #189 |
| Tennessee | 27 | #294 | #172 |
| Alabama | 15 | #344 | #215 |
| Kentucky | 12 | #381 | #99 |
| North Carolina | 28 | #403 | #236 |
| Utah | 11 | #405 | #309 |
| Pennsylvania | 24 | #451 | #461 |
| Arkansas | 7 | #485 | #217 |
| Virginia | 16 | #517 | #277 |
| Kansas | 6 | #569 | #402 |
| Wisconsin | 8 | #601 | #477 |
| South Carolina | 8 | #610 | #257 |
| Oklahoma | 7 | #614 | #463 |
| Arizona | 11 | #628 | #324 |
| Texas | 50 | #631 | #237 |
| Georgia | 17 | #642 | #227 |
| Washington | 10 | #673 | #487 |
| Michigan | 12 | #686 | #319 |
| Minnesota | 7 | #722 | #235 |
| Massachusetts | 7 | #754 | #735 |
| Florida | 22 | #763 | #319 |
| Indiana | 8 | #801 | #347 |
| California | 35 | #854 | #414 |
| New Jersey | 8 | #927 | #841 |
| New York | 16 | #972 | #752 |
| Illinois | 8 | #1,104 | #461 |
| Ohio | 8 | #1,119 | #314 |
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 444 | #649 | 41 | #3,032 |
| 2024 | 446 | #658 | 51 | #2,628 |
| 2023 | 448 | #657 | 49 | #2,686 |
| 2022 | 503 | #596 | 41 | #3,047 |
| 2021 | 556 | #550 | 35 | #3,352 |
| 2020 | 606 | #501 | 49 | #2,612 |
| 2019 | 634 | #495 | 29 | #3,785 |
| 2018 | 738 | #425 | 29 | #3,777 |
| 2017 | 836 | #373 | 34 | #3,368 |
| 2016 | 986 | #337 | 39 | #3,051 |
| 2015 | 1,080 | #300 | 32 | #3,501 |
| 2014 | 1,114 | #294 | 35 | #3,209 |
| 2013 | 1,239 | #261 | 47 | #2,592 |
| 2012 | 1,447 | #220 | 46 | #2,671 |
| 2011 | 1,462 | #217 | 44 | #2,736 |
| 2010 | 1,680 | #184 | 46 | #2,673 |
| 2009 | 1,935 | #169 | 45 | #2,744 |
| 2008 | 2,148 | #158 | 76 | #1,915 |
| 2007 | 2,351 | #149 | 73 | #1,943 |
| 2006 | 2,620 | #133 | 71 | #1,917 |
| 2005 | 2,839 | #117 | 68 | #1,884 |
| 2004 | 2,988 | #112 | 87 | #1,540 |
| 2003 | 3,537 | #94 | 77 | #1,642 |
| 2002 | 3,961 | #75 | 108 | #1,265 |
| 2001 | 4,370 | #68 | 101 | #1,304 |
| 2000 | 4,561 | #70 | 129 | #1,095 |
| 1999 | 5,018 | #62 | 171 | #886 |
| 1998 | 5,893 | #49 | 165 | #887 |
| 1997 | 6,701 | #43 | 199 | #751 |
| 1996 | 7,950 | #35 | 305 | #591 |
| 1995 | 7,632 | #38 | 335 | #557 |
| 1994 | 7,546 | #40 | 362 | #536 |
| 1993 | 8,122 | #37 | 403 | #512 |
| 1992 | 9,396 | #34 | 453 | #474 |
| 1991 | 10,220 | #33 | 524 | #427 |
| 1990 | 3,517 | #100 | 354 | #525 |
| 1989 | 1,203 | #229 | 205 | #694 |
| 1988 | 881 | #284 | 184 | #691 |
| 1987 | 899 | #273 | 176 | #686 |
| 1986 | 900 | #276 | 172 | #693 |
| 1985 | 885 | #281 | 177 | #664 |
| 1984 | 1,042 | #242 | 148 | #717 |
| 1983 | 642 | #351 | 157 | #686 |
| 1982 | 435 | #479 | 125 | #793 |
| 1981 | 512 | #424 | 135 | #751 |
| 1980 | 482 | #443 | 134 | #760 |
| 1979 | 428 | #473 | 144 | #723 |
| 1978 | 483 | #419 | 168 | #648 |
| 1977 | 553 | #383 | 187 | #615 |
| 1976 | 575 | #365 | 176 | #617 |
| 1975 | 746 | #308 | 195 | #577 |
| 1974 | 798 | #300 | 184 | #589 |
| 1973 | 678 | #328 | 171 | #607 |
| 1972 | 754 | #318 | 173 | #605 |
| 1971 | 555 | #394 | 188 | #609 |
| 1970 | 400 | #499 | 159 | #650 |
| 1969 | 326 | #547 | 173 | #597 |
| 1968 | 319 | #539 | 143 | #636 |
| 1967 | 293 | #551 | 129 | #659 |
| 1966 | 304 | #540 | 156 | #600 |
| 1965 | 274 | #577 | 114 | #696 |
| 1964 | 317 | #557 | 117 | #714 |
| 1963 | 371 | #506 | 136 | #671 |
| 1962 | 370 | #503 | 117 | #714 |
| 1961 | 386 | #494 | 131 | #677 |
| 1960 | 307 | #560 | 159 | #619 |
| 1959 | 357 | #517 | 131 | #667 |
| 1958 | 382 | #490 | 128 | #673 |
| 1957 | 367 | #494 | 128 | #677 |
| 1956 | 345 | #507 | 132 | #664 |
| 1955 | 344 | #491 | 151 | #603 |
| 1954 | 310 | #505 | 153 | #599 |
| 1953 | 262 | #532 | 122 | #648 |
| 1952 | 228 | #576 | 132 | #617 |
| 1951 | 232 | #558 | 162 | #533 |
| 1950 | 248 | #519 | 143 | #569 |
| 1949 | 241 | #533 | 147 | #554 |
| 1948 | 266 | #500 | 160 | #526 |
| 1947 | 369 | #425 | 146 | #560 |
| 1946 | 397 | #383 | 171 | #494 |
| 1945 | 333 | #388 | 153 | #489 |
| 1944 | 367 | #366 | 161 | #476 |
| 1943 | 491 | #314 | 200 | #448 |
| 1942 | 599 | #279 | 160 | #485 |
| 1941 | 826 | #213 | 168 | #456 |
| 1940 | 1,006 | #187 | 176 | #437 |
| 1939 | 1,164 | #170 | 207 | #394 |
| 1938 | 1,714 | #142 | 214 | #386 |
| 1937 | 1,997 | #119 | 203 | #388 |
| 1936 | 1,071 | #178 | 151 | #458 |
| 1935 | 67 | #848 | 121 | #527 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,989 | 133 | #499 |
| 1933 | 18 | #1,898 | 115 | #531 |
| 1932 | 18 | #1,941 | 106 | #577 |
| 1931 | 11 | #2,733 | 109 | #564 |
| 1930 | — | — | 111 | #570 |
| 1929 | 10 | #3,112 | 110 | #570 |
| 1928 | 19 | #2,014 | 97 | #627 |
| 1927 | 11 | #3,025 | 124 | #556 |
| 1926 | — | — | 120 | #562 |
| 1925 | 9 | #3,620 | 128 | #545 |
| 1924 | 7 | #4,383 | 110 | #611 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,317 | 126 | #553 |
| 1922 | 10 | #3,346 | 128 | #564 |
| 1921 | 12 | #2,912 | 136 | #536 |
| 1920 | 10 | #3,312 | 146 | #500 |
| 1919 | 7 | #4,197 | 141 | #501 |
| 1918 | 5 | #5,479 | 113 | #574 |
| 1917 | 9 | #3,313 | 119 | #535 |
| 1916 | 10 | #3,005 | 100 | #579 |
| 1915 | 5 | #4,859 | 90 | #608 |
| 1914 | 5 | #4,115 | 84 | #537 |
| 1913 | 5 | #3,635 | 38 | #775 |
| 1912 | — | — | 48 | #591 |
| 1911 | — | — | 30 | #561 |
| 1910 | — | — | 29 | #534 |
| 1909 | — | — | 26 | #517 |
| 1908 | — | — | 31 | #437 |
| 1907 | — | — | 14 | #731 |
| 1906 | — | — | 29 | #408 |
| 1905 | — | — | 18 | #566 |
| 1904 | — | — | 12 | #716 |
| 1903 | — | — | 18 | #521 |
| 1902 | — | — | 11 | #732 |
| 1901 | — | — | 14 | #554 |
| 1900 | — | — | 20 | #552 |
| 1899 | — | — | 17 | #476 |
| 1898 | — | — | 22 | #433 |
| 1897 | — | — | 14 | #579 |
| 1896 | — | — | 14 | #586 |
| 1895 | — | — | 16 | #524 |
| 1894 | — | — | 14 | #561 |
| 1893 | — | — | 11 | #645 |
| 1892 | — | — | 19 | #457 |
| 1891 | — | — | 6 | #947 |
| 1890 | — | — | 11 | #625 |
| 1889 | — | — | 11 | #622 |
| 1888 | — | — | 15 | #522 |
| 1887 | — | — | 14 | #482 |
| 1886 | — | — | 9 | #688 |
| 1885 | — | — | 10 | #633 |
| 1884 | — | — | 16 | #484 |
| 1883 | — | — | 8 | #716 |
| 1882 | — | — | 13 | #538 |
| 1881 | — | — | 11 | #560 |
| 1880 | — | — | 8 | #738 |
About the data: counts are Social Security card applications for US births, for names given to at least five babies of a sex in a year (SSA, names.zip, public domain). Ranks follow SSA’s own order: most births first, ties alphabetical. Files retrieved 2026-10-05 (checksum on our sources page).