ninan.org

Shelby

Girls' name · Millennial-era

Living in the US
~151,100 survival-weighted estimate
2025 rank
#649 among girls
Births in 2025
485 165,279 since 1880
Typical age
30 years, median

Shelby popularity over time

Shelby rank by birth year, 1913–2025Shelby ranked #3,187 in 1913 and #649 in 2025. Its best rank in the period was #33, in 1991.#100#1,000#649best #33 in 1991192019401960198020002020
Rank among US baby names by birth year, 1913–2025. Lower is more popular; the scale is logarithmic so the top of the chart is not compressed.

More children were named Shelby in 1991 than in any other year — 10,744 of them. It appears in the very first year SSA covers, 1880. Across the record, 14 years put Shelby in the top 100.

In 2025 it ranked #649 with 485 births. Compared with 2015, births are down 56%.

Babies named Shelby per yearPeaks at 10,744 births in 1991.10,744 in 1991018901920195019802010
Recorded US births by year. The peak is labelled; the axis starts at zero.

How many people are named Shelby?

Roughly 151,100 Shelbys are alive in the US right now. That is out of 165,279 recorded births since 1880. The split is about 140,100 women and 11,000 men.

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 Shelby?

Median age among living Shelbys: 30. Most living bearers were born in the 1990s. By the site’s era rules that makes Shelby a millennial-era name.

Your Shelby

Ages of living people named ShelbyHalf of living Shelbys are older than 30 and half younger.median 30020406080100
Estimated living bearers by age today. Each bar is a birth year, weighted by the chance someone born then is still alive.

Where Shelby is most common

Shelby is 3.1× as common in West Virginia as it is nationally. Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama follow.

Where Shelby is used more than average5 states use the name Shelby 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: not over-representedNYOregon: 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: not over-representedNJConnecticut: not over-representedCTRhode Island: not over-representedRICalifornia: not over-representedCAUtah: not over-representedUTColorado: not over-representedCONebraska: not over-representedNEMissouri: not over-representedMOKentucky: 2.7× the national rateKYWest Virginia: 3.1× the national rateWVVirginia: not over-representedVAMaryland: not over-representedMDDelaware: not over-representedDEMassachusetts: not over-representedMAArizona: not over-representedAZNew Mexico: 1.8× the national rateNMKansas: not over-representedKSArkansas: not over-representedARTennessee: 2.1× the national rateTNNorth Carolina: not over-representedNCSouth Carolina: not over-representedSCDistrict of Columbia: not over-representedDCOklahoma: not over-representedOKLouisiana: not over-representedLAMississippi: not over-representedMSAlabama: 1.9× the national rateALGeorgia: not over-representedGAHawaii: not over-representedHITexas: not over-representedTXFlorida: not over-representedFL
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 Shelby is over-represented, 2016–2025. The location quotient compares the state's share of the name with the national share.
StateBirthsvs national rate
West Virginia 74 3.1×
Kentucky 193 2.7×
Tennessee 266 2.1×
Alabama 153 1.9×
New Mexico 44 1.8×

Is Shelby a boy's or a girl's name?

90% girls10% boys
Share of all recorded US births under this name, 1880 to the latest year.

Across the whole record, 90.0% of births under the name were girls. The name has changed sides: it began mostly on one sex and ends mostly on the other.

Shelby in England and Wales

ONS recorded 48 births named Shelby in 2025, ranking it #872. That is 49% lower than five years earlier.

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

Where the name Shelby comes from

From a medieval name, of Unknown origin, yet likely an alteration of Middle English Selby, Salibi (“dweller of the willow place”), from salwe (“willow, sallow”) + -.

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

Notable people named Shelby

Ordered by how many Wikipedia language editions have an article about them — a measure of reach, not of importance.
NameKnown forYearsEditions
Shelby Rogers American tennis player 1992 28
Shelby McEwen American high jumper 1996 18
Shelby Lynne American singer-songwriter 1968 18
Shelby Young American actress 1992 17
Shelby Houlihan American middle- and long-distance runner 1993 16
Shelby Foote American novelist, historian 1916–2005 16
Shelby M. Cullom American politician 1829–1914 13
Shelby Wilson Olympic wrestler 1937 12
Photo credits (4)

The sharpest rise. Births under this name jumped from 188 in 1935 to 1,222 in 1936 — 6.5 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 Shelby

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

Same feel, less common

The same matches, limited to names given at most half as often as Shelby was in 2025.

Related pages

Get this data

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