Shelagh
Feminine · “an Irish form of Cecilia”
Shelagh is Sheila with an Irish-looking ending, the -agh of Armagh and Monaghan, where the gh is silent. It belongs above all to Shelagh Delaney, the Salford playwright who wrote A Taste of Honey while still a teenager.
How old is the name Shelagh?
Shelagh first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Shelagh alive today was born around 1965, making them about 60 years old. About 500 people named Shelagh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shelagh most popular?
Shelagh peaked in 1950, reaching #2053 nationally. See the whole 1950 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Caecilius (Roman family name) to Shelagh
The story of Shelagh
Cecilia became Síle in Irish, and English speakers wrote that as Sheila, Sheela or, borrowing the look of Irish place names like Armagh, Shelagh. Shelagh Delaney of Salford wrote A Taste of Honey while still in her teens; Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop staged it in London in 1958, and its heroine, a working-class girl pregnant by a Black sailor and looked after by a gay friend, made it one of the landmark British plays of the postwar years.
Meaning
an Irish form of Cecilia
Shelagh is an English spelling of the Irish Síle, which came from Cecilia. Cecilia comes from the Roman family name Caecilius, traditionally linked to caecus, 'blind.'
How the name formed
- CaeciliusRoman family name
- CeciliaLatin
- SíleIrish
- Sheila and ShelaghEnglish spellings
Related forms: Síle · Sheila · Cecilia
Pronouncing Shelagh
SHEE-luh
Two syllables, stress on the first, exactly like Sheila; the gh is silent.
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
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 195022 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2053reached in 1950
- Change vs 1996
- −16.7%5 in 1999, from 6
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.
Shelagh in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Síle in Irish — same name
- Sheila in English — spelling variant
- Cecilia in Latin — related form
Shelaghs among us
people named Shelagh 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
Shelagh 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
- Said exactly like the familiar Sheila, so no one struggles with the sound.
- An Irish look on paper, backed by a real Irish name.
- A distinguished namesake in Shelagh Delaney.
- Nearly everyone will write Sheila, and the gh will need explaining.
- Sheila is long-standing Australian slang for a woman, and people who know it will mention it.
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Shelagh
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shelaghs 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 Shelagh are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shelagh in 2025?
- Shelagh is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shelagh with classmates?
- Shelagh will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shelagh? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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