ninan.org

Sheila

Girls' name · Late 20th-century

Living in the US
~195,500 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#2,645 among girls
Births in 2025
65 239,422 since 1880
Typical age
64 years, median

Sheila popularity over time

Sheila rank by birth year, 1907–2025Sheila ranked #1,384 in 1907 and #2,645 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #50, in 1963.#100#1,000#2,645best #50 in 1963192019401960198020002020
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1907–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

1962 is the peak year for Sheila, with 8,807 births. The name does not appear in the data until 1907. Sheila has spent 30 years inside the national top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #2,645 with 65 births. Over ten years the count has fallen 48%. Year on year the rank dropped by 634.

Babies named Sheila per yearPeaks at 8,807 births in 1962.8,807 in 19620192019401960198020002020
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Sheila?

Roughly 195,500 Sheilas are alive in the US right now. SSA has recorded 239,422 births under the name since 1880.

This is a survival-weighted estimate, not a headcount: every recorded birth year is multiplied by the chance someone born that year is still alive, using the SSA period life table. How the estimate works.

How old is the average Sheila?

The typical living Sheila is 64 years old. Most living bearers were born in the 1960s. By the site’s era rules that makes Sheila a late 20th-century name.

Your Sheila

Ages of living people named SheilaHalf of living Sheilas are older than 64 and half younger.median 64020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Sheila is most common

The name is concentrated in New York, at 2.2× the national rate. New Jersey and Florida follow.

Where Sheila is used more than average3 states use the name Sheila more than the national average.Alaska: not over-representedAKMaine: not over-representedMEVermont: not over-representedVTNew Hampshire: not over-representedNHWashington: not over-representedWAIdaho: not over-representedIDMontana: not over-representedMTNorth Dakota: not over-representedNDMinnesota: not over-representedMNIllinois: not over-representedILWisconsin: not over-representedWIMichigan: not over-representedMINew York: 2.2× the national rateNYOregon: not over-representedORNevada: not over-representedNVWyoming: not over-representedWYSouth Dakota: not over-representedSDIowa: not over-representedIAIndiana: not over-representedINOhio: not over-representedOHPennsylvania: not over-representedPANew Jersey: 1.6× the national rateNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: not over-representedKYWest Virginia: not over-representedWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: not over-representedNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: not over-representedTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: not over-representedALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: 1.3× the national rateFL
Same as national3× or more
Location quotient, 2016–2025. Shaded states use the name more than the country does, relative to their own births. Exact figures are in the table below.
States where Sheila is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
New York 114 2.2×
New Jersey 36 1.6×
Florida 73 1.3×

Sheila in England and Wales

ONS recorded 7 births named Sheila in 2025, ranking it #3,333.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Counts below three are suppressed by ONS.

Where the name Sheila comes from

Anglicized spelling of Irish Síle, equivalent to Cecilia. Doublet of Cecilia.

Etymology summarised from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0. Wiktionary entry.

Notable people named Sheila

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Sheila Dikshit Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Delhi 1938–2019 30
Sheila Jackson Lee American lawyer and politician 1950–2024 28
Sheila Jordan American jazz singer 1928–2025 25
Sheila E. American singer and percussionist 1957 25
Sheila Young American speed skater and racing cyclist 1950 24
Sheila McCarthy Canadian actress 1956 22
Sheila Hancock British actress 1933 22
Sheila Widnall American aerospace researcher and educator 1938 20
Photo credits (8)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 787 in 1934 to 1,332 in 1935 — 1.7 times over in a single year.

Birth records contain the rise and nothing about its cause. This site does not supply one.

People and dates from Wikidata (CC0), limited to those with an English Wikipedia article who are known by this name as their first name.

Names similar to Sheila

Matched by sound and spelling inside this dataset, then ordered by total recorded births. This is not a claim about shared etymology.

Related pages

Get this data

Every number on this page is available as JSON: /api/name/sheila.json. Free to use with attribution (CC BY 4.0).