Meaning not yet researched.
Shelley: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 13 in 2025. Its best rank was #126 in 1972.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #126 in 1972; #8,280 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Shelley in 2025 was a girl.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#8,280 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1972, at #126.
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.
Shelley: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 13 girls in 2025. Peak: #126 in 1972 · most girls in one year: 2,821 (1964).
In 2025, 13 US girls were named Shelley, making it the 8,280th most common girls’ name of the year, up 1,190 places from #9,470 in 2024. That is 2 more than the 11 girls named Shelley in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #126, reached in 1972. The most girls given the name in a single year was 2,821, in 1964. For comparison, it was #8,877 in 2015 and #170 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Shelley in 130 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1892 with 6 babies. In all, 74,339 US babies have been given the name, 98% of them girls and 2.4% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1960s, with 25,089 babies named Shelley.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 119 US girls were named Shelley; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 17. In 2025 that was about 1 in 123,636 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Shelly (86,610 babies since 1880), Shellie (10,859 babies since 1880) and Shelli (6,983 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Shealee 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 Dutch. That is where the name is used, not necessarily where it comes from.
Rare spellings summarised here: Shealee (237).
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 Shelley in the open dataset we use.
Shelley is listed as a nickname for Michele, Michelle.
Source: carltonnorthern/nicknames (Apache-2.0).
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 13 | #8,280 | — | — |
| 2024 | 11 | #9,470 | — | — |
| 2023 | 9 | #11,051 | — | — |
| 2022 | 7 | #13,381 | — | — |
| 2021 | 11 | #9,457 | — | — |
| 2020 | 15 | #7,520 | — | — |
| 2019 | 12 | #9,038 | — | — |
| 2018 | 12 | #9,074 | — | — |
| 2017 | 12 | #9,269 | — | — |
| 2016 | 17 | #7,193 | — | — |
| 2015 | 13 | #8,877 | — | — |
| 2014 | 21 | #6,181 | — | — |
| 2013 | 16 | #7,698 | — | — |
| 2012 | 17 | #7,415 | — | — |
| 2011 | 26 | #5,338 | — | — |
| 2010 | 28 | #5,086 | — | — |
| 2009 | 30 | #4,914 | — | — |
| 2008 | 36 | #4,345 | — | — |
| 2007 | 35 | #4,370 | — | — |
| 2006 | 40 | #3,845 | — | — |
| 2005 | 38 | #3,863 | — | — |
| 2004 | 42 | #3,560 | — | — |
| 2003 | 42 | #3,459 | — | — |
| 2002 | 39 | #3,519 | — | — |
| 2001 | 60 | #2,565 | 5 | #12,037 |
| 2000 | 69 | #2,274 | — | — |
| 1999 | 85 | #1,872 | — | — |
| 1998 | 94 | #1,706 | 10 | #6,225 |
| 1997 | 105 | #1,550 | — | — |
| 1996 | 112 | #1,477 | — | — |
| 1995 | 155 | #1,138 | 10 | #5,844 |
| 1994 | 162 | #1,112 | — | — |
| 1993 | 223 | #872 | — | — |
| 1992 | 266 | #776 | — | — |
| 1991 | 257 | #798 | 5 | #9,413 |
| 1990 | 298 | #706 | 6 | #7,966 |
| 1989 | 380 | #578 | 6 | #7,765 |
| 1988 | 426 | #520 | 6 | #7,115 |
| 1987 | 502 | #442 | 5 | #7,959 |
| 1986 | 563 | #400 | 8 | #5,259 |
| 1985 | 569 | #395 | 9 | #4,640 |
| 1984 | 706 | #330 | 7 | #5,489 |
| 1983 | 777 | #300 | 6 | #6,109 |
| 1982 | 848 | #288 | 11 | #3,914 |
| 1981 | 912 | #273 | 10 | #4,106 |
| 1980 | 1,131 | #226 | 16 | #2,937 |
| 1979 | 1,065 | #243 | 16 | #2,881 |
| 1978 | 1,028 | #239 | 18 | #2,555 |
| 1977 | 1,104 | #226 | 15 | #2,890 |
| 1976 | 1,275 | #194 | 20 | #2,317 |
| 1975 | 1,547 | #171 | 24 | #1,992 |
| 1974 | 1,997 | #142 | 20 | #2,188 |
| 1973 | 2,258 | #128 | 35 | #1,458 |
| 1972 | 2,384 | #126 | 31 | #1,558 |
| 1971 | 2,274 | #140 | 29 | #1,664 |
| 1970 | 2,351 | #144 | 28 | #1,651 |
| 1969 | 2,479 | #135 | 29 | #1,523 |
| 1968 | 2,483 | #129 | 20 | #1,823 |
| 1967 | 2,510 | #141 | 19 | #1,846 |
| 1966 | 2,545 | #140 | 25 | #1,571 |
| 1965 | 2,528 | #148 | 19 | #1,851 |
| 1964 | 2,821 | #143 | 24 | #1,652 |
| 1963 | 2,734 | #148 | 16 | #2,105 |
| 1962 | 2,476 | #162 | 25 | #1,617 |
| 1961 | 2,141 | #180 | 41 | #1,248 |
| 1960 | 2,139 | #182 | 15 | #2,194 |
| 1959 | 1,848 | #191 | 19 | #1,911 |
| 1958 | 1,722 | #197 | 28 | #1,510 |
| 1957 | 1,722 | #200 | 27 | #1,543 |
| 1956 | 1,681 | #196 | 25 | #1,600 |
| 1955 | 1,738 | #192 | 26 | #1,533 |
| 1954 | 2,177 | #161 | 29 | #1,431 |
| 1953 | 1,937 | #168 | 41 | #1,167 |
| 1952 | 1,886 | #164 | 35 | #1,267 |
| 1951 | 1,845 | #166 | 46 | #1,065 |
| 1950 | 1,670 | #170 | 32 | #1,286 |
| 1949 | 1,017 | #233 | 29 | #1,372 |
| 1948 | 413 | #391 | 18 | #1,810 |
| 1947 | 219 | #578 | 30 | #1,357 |
| 1946 | 196 | #571 | 26 | #1,405 |
| 1945 | 171 | #562 | 28 | #1,265 |
| 1944 | 132 | #642 | 24 | #1,395 |
| 1943 | 111 | #734 | 22 | #1,523 |
| 1942 | 98 | #767 | 21 | #1,583 |
| 1941 | 53 | #1,012 | 19 | #1,631 |
| 1940 | 63 | #911 | 19 | #1,617 |
| 1939 | 59 | #923 | 14 | #1,951 |
| 1938 | 36 | #1,227 | 17 | #1,732 |
| 1937 | 47 | #1,045 | 23 | #1,438 |
| 1936 | 44 | #1,060 | 22 | #1,456 |
| 1935 | 43 | #1,070 | 15 | #1,909 |
| 1934 | 33 | #1,255 | 22 | #1,491 |
| 1933 | 28 | #1,395 | 11 | #2,352 |
| 1932 | 25 | #1,564 | 18 | #1,772 |
| 1931 | 33 | #1,280 | 11 | #2,444 |
| 1930 | 15 | #2,290 | 19 | #1,744 |
| 1929 | 13 | #2,565 | 12 | #2,442 |
| 1928 | 14 | #2,486 | 25 | #1,515 |
| 1927 | 13 | #2,678 | 24 | #1,597 |
| 1926 | 10 | #3,240 | 15 | #2,172 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,887 | 16 | #2,074 |
| 1924 | 6 | #4,971 | 16 | #2,121 |
| 1923 | 7 | #4,318 | 16 | #2,109 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,963 | 35 | #1,239 |
| 1921 | 7 | #4,390 | 22 | #1,700 |
| 1920 | 11 | #3,069 | 21 | #1,737 |
| 1919 | — | — | 26 | #1,444 |
| 1918 | 8 | #3,809 | 16 | #2,062 |
| 1917 | 6 | #4,518 | 15 | #2,076 |
| 1916 | — | — | 20 | #1,638 |
| 1915 | 8 | #3,391 | 29 | #1,238 |
| 1914 | 5 | #4,116 | 10 | #2,249 |
| 1913 | — | — | 12 | #1,662 |
| 1912 | 5 | #3,367 | 7 | #2,238 |
| 1911 | — | — | 9 | #1,276 |
| 1910 | — | — | 10 | #1,106 |
| 1909 | 5 | #2,502 | 9 | #1,074 |
| 1908 | — | — | 6 | #1,354 |
| 1907 | — | — | 6 | #1,323 |
| 1906 | — | — | 9 | #914 |
| 1905 | — | — | 6 | #1,215 |
| 1904 | — | — | 8 | #953 |
| 1900 | — | — | 9 | #962 |
| 1899 | — | — | 9 | #772 |
| 1898 | 5 | #1,935 | 5 | #1,272 |
| 1896 | — | — | 5 | #1,248 |
| 1895 | — | — | 7 | #967 |
| 1894 | — | — | 5 | #1,215 |
| 1893 | — | — | 8 | #823 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,428 | — | — |
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).