Sherra
Feminine
Sherra is two letters away from three different names, and the doubled r is the only thing in it doing any work at all — it fixes the vowel before it, and it is the reason the name is read the way it is.
How old is the name Sherra?
Sherra first appears in US birth records in 1937 — 88 years ago. The typical Sherra alive today was born around 1968, making them about 57 years old. About 800 people named Sherra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sherra most popular?
Sherra peaked in 1943, reaching #1834 nationally. See the whole 1943 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Sherra
English has very few reliable spelling rules, and the doubled consonant is one of them: a single consonant after a vowel usually leaves that vowel long, and doubling it makes the vowel short. Hoping and hopping, later and latter, super and supper. So Shera would be read with a long first vowel and Sherra will not be, and a parent doubling that letter is giving an instruction that English readers obey without noticing. It is one of the few places where American respelling is doing something genuinely useful rather than decorative — the added letter is not there to look distinctive, it is there to be read correctly, and it works.
Meaningnot established
Not established
No settled parent. Sarah respelled, Sherry lengthened and Sheree respelled are all plausible, and the record from the decade it appears holds all three of those names in quantity. Nothing distinguishes them once the name is written this way.
Pronouncing Sherra
SHAIR-uh
Two syllables, stress at the front. The doubled r is what keeps it from being read as SHEER-uh.
Nicknames for Sherra
Moderate
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
- 1937
- Most girls named
- 197028 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1834reached in 1943
- Change vs 1996
- −16.7%5 in 1998, 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.
Sherras among us
people named Sherra 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
Sherra 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
- The spelling instructs the reader correctly, which not every respelling manages.
- It is short, soft and easy at any age.
- It is rare while sounding entirely ordinary.
- Sara, Sherry and Sheree are all nearby and hers will be heard as one of them.
- The name belongs to a particular stretch of American decades.
- No parent name can be established, so there is no meaning to pass on.
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Sherra
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Sherras are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Sherra are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sherra in 2025?
- Sherra is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Sherra with classmates?
- Sherra 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 Sherra? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sherra and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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