Meaning not yet researched.
Shelly: US girls given the name each year, 1880 to 2025, from Social Security card applications. 21 in 2025. Its best rank was #89 in 1966.
US births per year · SSA card applications
Peaked at #89 in 1966; #5,884 in 2025. Every baby recorded as Shelly in 2025 was a girl.
Baby name · US data 1880–2025
#5,884 for US girls in 2025. Its best year was 1966, at #89.
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.
Shelly: US girls given the name each year from 1880 to 2025. 21 girls in 2025. Peak: #89 in 1966 · most girls in one year: 4,080 (1964).
In 2025, 21 US girls were named Shelly, making it the 5,884th most common girls’ name of the year, down 1,234 places from #4,650 in 2024. That is 9 fewer than the 30 girls named Shelly in 2024. Its best rank for girls was #89, reached in 1966. The most girls given the name in a single year was 4,080, in 1964. For comparison, it was #3,522 in 2015 and #441 in 1950.
Social Security card records list Shelly in 132 years of the 146 from 1880 to 2025, starting in 1882 with 7 babies. In all, 86,610 US babies have been given the name, 97% of them girls and 2.5% boys. Its busiest decade was the 1960s, with 36,026 babies named Shelly.
Over the 10 years from 2016 to 2025, 282 US girls were named Shelly; the busiest of those years was 2016, with 36. In 2025 that was about 1 in 76,537 of the girls in SSA’s list for the year.
Related spellings in the SSA files include Shelley (74,339 babies since 1880), Shelia (47,891 babies since 1880), Shellie (10,859 babies since 1880) and Shelli (6,983 babies since 1880). Rarer spellings such as Shellee, Sheli and Sheily 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.
Rare spellings summarised here: Shellee (859), Sheli (647), Sheily (645), Shellia (397), Sheyli (212), Shellye (174), Shelie (119), Shiley (43), Sheyly (38), Shealy (34), Sheley (32), Shelea (32), and more.
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.
Births and national rank for each year SSA lists the name, newest first.
| Year | Girls | Girls rank | Boys | Boys rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 21 | #5,884 | — | — |
| 2024 | 30 | #4,650 | — | — |
| 2023 | 20 | #6,130 | — | — |
| 2022 | 28 | #4,889 | — | — |
| 2021 | 30 | #4,594 | — | — |
| 2020 | 25 | #5,147 | — | — |
| 2019 | 29 | #4,758 | — | — |
| 2018 | 29 | #4,757 | — | — |
| 2017 | 34 | #4,296 | — | — |
| 2016 | 36 | #4,147 | — | — |
| 2015 | 45 | #3,522 | — | — |
| 2014 | 50 | #3,266 | — | — |
| 2013 | 52 | #3,161 | — | — |
| 2012 | 52 | #3,203 | — | — |
| 2011 | 39 | #3,904 | — | — |
| 2010 | 57 | #3,006 | — | — |
| 2009 | 80 | #2,419 | — | — |
| 2008 | 69 | #2,683 | — | — |
| 2007 | 73 | #2,566 | 5 | #14,072 |
| 2006 | 89 | #2,181 | — | — |
| 2005 | 109 | #1,799 | — | — |
| 2004 | 100 | #1,891 | — | — |
| 2003 | 114 | #1,685 | — | — |
| 2002 | 123 | #1,547 | — | — |
| 2001 | 125 | #1,505 | 5 | #12,038 |
| 2000 | 147 | #1,304 | — | — |
| 1999 | 158 | #1,210 | — | — |
| 1998 | 168 | #1,132 | — | — |
| 1997 | 166 | #1,131 | — | — |
| 1996 | 217 | #907 | 7 | #7,840 |
| 1995 | 240 | #821 | — | — |
| 1994 | 281 | #741 | 6 | #8,650 |
| 1993 | 307 | #699 | 7 | #7,498 |
| 1992 | 348 | #647 | — | — |
| 1991 | 434 | #539 | 6 | #8,092 |
| 1990 | 413 | #565 | 8 | #6,327 |
| 1989 | 466 | #505 | 13 | #4,236 |
| 1988 | 537 | #430 | 7 | #6,319 |
| 1987 | 629 | #371 | — | — |
| 1986 | 744 | #326 | 7 | #5,837 |
| 1985 | 885 | #282 | 6 | #6,412 |
| 1984 | 949 | #258 | 9 | #4,498 |
| 1983 | 1,073 | #230 | 8 | #4,849 |
| 1982 | 1,137 | #226 | 13 | #3,456 |
| 1981 | 1,228 | #212 | 9 | #4,444 |
| 1980 | 1,451 | #186 | 12 | #3,583 |
| 1979 | 1,456 | #182 | 21 | #2,362 |
| 1978 | 1,501 | #175 | 27 | #1,907 |
| 1977 | 1,848 | #151 | 16 | #2,766 |
| 1976 | 1,861 | #145 | 25 | #1,989 |
| 1975 | 2,484 | #113 | 27 | #1,822 |
| 1974 | 2,797 | #107 | 30 | #1,655 |
| 1973 | 2,910 | #104 | 37 | #1,397 |
| 1972 | 3,288 | #94 | 38 | #1,387 |
| 1971 | 3,637 | #103 | 31 | #1,592 |
| 1970 | 3,751 | #103 | 38 | #1,370 |
| 1969 | 3,676 | #102 | 36 | #1,349 |
| 1968 | 3,595 | #98 | 42 | #1,181 |
| 1967 | 3,648 | #94 | 27 | #1,502 |
| 1966 | 3,856 | #89 | 30 | #1,423 |
| 1965 | 3,850 | #98 | 44 | #1,141 |
| 1964 | 4,080 | #101 | 47 | #1,124 |
| 1963 | 3,790 | #117 | 31 | #1,421 |
| 1962 | 3,480 | #130 | 30 | #1,451 |
| 1961 | 2,994 | #145 | 39 | #1,278 |
| 1960 | 2,692 | #157 | 39 | #1,267 |
| 1959 | 1,883 | #188 | 26 | #1,584 |
| 1958 | 1,379 | #221 | 34 | #1,339 |
| 1957 | 1,210 | #245 | 37 | #1,297 |
| 1956 | 929 | #291 | 33 | #1,358 |
| 1955 | 786 | #306 | 20 | #1,780 |
| 1954 | 759 | #306 | 41 | #1,183 |
| 1953 | 571 | #356 | 32 | #1,353 |
| 1952 | 538 | #355 | 41 | #1,164 |
| 1951 | 407 | #415 | 39 | #1,168 |
| 1950 | 333 | #441 | 55 | #932 |
| 1949 | 181 | #615 | 36 | #1,200 |
| 1948 | 102 | #866 | 36 | #1,214 |
| 1947 | 74 | #1,037 | 33 | #1,292 |
| 1946 | 71 | #1,004 | 22 | #1,552 |
| 1945 | 74 | #880 | 36 | #1,102 |
| 1944 | 52 | #1,087 | 30 | #1,233 |
| 1943 | 66 | #984 | 34 | #1,182 |
| 1942 | 57 | #1,044 | 31 | #1,267 |
| 1941 | 35 | #1,308 | 28 | #1,271 |
| 1940 | 36 | #1,240 | 29 | #1,273 |
| 1939 | 39 | #1,178 | 25 | #1,354 |
| 1938 | 31 | #1,338 | 26 | #1,334 |
| 1937 | 31 | #1,328 | 30 | #1,228 |
| 1936 | 19 | #1,792 | 31 | #1,201 |
| 1935 | 18 | #1,904 | 27 | #1,324 |
| 1934 | 17 | #1,990 | 25 | #1,381 |
| 1933 | 6 | #4,157 | 15 | #1,893 |
| 1932 | 17 | #2,022 | 23 | #1,502 |
| 1931 | 10 | #2,950 | 16 | #1,917 |
| 1930 | 6 | #4,497 | 25 | #1,490 |
| 1929 | — | — | 24 | #1,519 |
| 1928 | 7 | #4,137 | 37 | #1,184 |
| 1927 | 12 | #2,837 | 20 | #1,787 |
| 1926 | 5 | #5,518 | 26 | #1,460 |
| 1925 | — | — | 22 | #1,670 |
| 1924 | 9 | #3,625 | 32 | #1,323 |
| 1923 | 8 | #3,916 | 29 | #1,380 |
| 1922 | 6 | #4,936 | 17 | #2,025 |
| 1921 | — | — | 16 | #2,139 |
| 1920 | — | — | 18 | #1,953 |
| 1919 | — | — | 18 | #1,868 |
| 1918 | — | — | 23 | #1,589 |
| 1917 | — | — | 15 | #2,077 |
| 1916 | 5 | #5,059 | 18 | #1,757 |
| 1915 | — | — | 15 | #1,954 |
| 1914 | — | — | 15 | #1,673 |
| 1913 | — | — | 13 | #1,569 |
| 1912 | — | — | 9 | #1,866 |
| 1909 | — | — | 8 | #1,143 |
| 1907 | — | — | 5 | #1,517 |
| 1905 | — | — | 5 | #1,404 |
| 1904 | — | — | 8 | #954 |
| 1902 | — | — | 8 | #918 |
| 1901 | — | — | 8 | #847 |
| 1900 | — | — | 8 | #1,039 |
| 1899 | — | — | 6 | #1,040 |
| 1898 | — | — | 7 | #983 |
| 1897 | — | — | 8 | #842 |
| 1895 | — | — | 6 | #1,066 |
| 1894 | — | — | 7 | #942 |
| 1893 | — | — | 9 | #763 |
| 1891 | — | — | 6 | #948 |
| 1890 | — | — | 5 | #1,141 |
| 1889 | — | — | 8 | #779 |
| 1886 | — | — | 5 | #1,086 |
| 1882 | — | — | 7 | #827 |
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).