Sheila
Masculine · “Irish form of Cecilia”
Sheila is given to girls far more often — 238,774 girls against 648 boys since 1880. See Sheila as a girl name
Sheila is the English writing of the Irish Síle, and it traveled so far that Newfoundland named a March storm after it. Two syllables, a long ee and a soft close: a name said the same way on three continents for well over a century.
How old is the name Sheila?
Sheila first appears in US birth records in 1929 — 96 years ago. The typical Sheila alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 500 people named Sheila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sheila most popular?
Sheila peaked in 1962, reaching #1454 nationally. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Caecilia to Sheila
The story of Sheila
Cecilia came to Ireland with the Normans, and Irish speakers made it their own as Síle. English clerks, meeting the name spoken rather than written, set it down the way it sounded, and Sheila, Sheelagh and Shelagh all come out of that meeting. Irish emigrants carried it to Newfoundland, where the wet snowstorm that often follows Saint Patrick's Day is still called Sheila's Brush, after the woman folk tradition variously makes Patrick's wife, sister or mother. In 1962 Tommy Roe took a song called 'Sheila' to the top of the American charts, at a time when the name was already well established in American families.
Meaning
Irish form of Cecilia, from a Roman family name
Síle was how Irish speakers took in the Norman Cecilia, and English speakers then wrote Síle down by ear as Sheila.
How the name formed
- Caecilia
- Cecilia
- Síle
- Sheila
Related forms: Síle · Sheelagh · Shelagh · Sìleas · Caecilia
Pronouncing Sheila
SHEE-luh
The Irish Síle is said the same way; the ei of the English spelling is there to write the long ee.
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1929
- Most boys named
- 196229 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1454reached in 1962
- Change vs 1988
- +14.3%8 in 1989, from 7
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Sheila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Síle in Irish — same name
- Sheelagh in Irish English — spelling variant
- Shelagh in English — spelling variant
- Sìleas in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Caecilia in Latin — related form
Sheilas among us
people named Sheila are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Sheila sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Spelled and said the same way across Ireland, Britain, Australia and North America.
- A long, unbroken record in American use stretching back more than a century.
- Has the older Irish-looking spellings Sheelagh and Shelagh for families who want them.
- Short and clear, with no letters that need explaining.
- In Australia and New Zealand 'sheila' is still casual slang for any woman, so a Sheila there will hear her name used about other people.
- The name is still strongly represented among older generations and rare among babies, so a young Sheila will stand out among her classmates.
- The spelling turns up very occasionally for boys, but it is a girl's name in every tradition behind it, and a boy called Sheila would spend a lot of time explaining it.
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What they receive
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Sheila
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Sheilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Sheila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sheila in 2025?
- Sheila is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Sheila with classmates?
- Sheila will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Steven#271 · Stephen#383 · Samuel#18 · Scott#534 · Sean#489 · Shawn#681 · Stanley#863 · Steve#1609
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sheila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sheila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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