Sherril
Feminine
Sherril is given to both — 1,622 girls and 153 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Sherril ends the way a set of men's names ends. Virgil, Cyril, Basil and Errol all close on the same unstressed syllable, and English reads that ending as masculine without ever having been told to. That is most of why this spelling looks different from Sherry or Sheryl, and part of why it appears on the register for sons as well as daughters.
How old is the name Sherril?
Sherril first appears in US birth records in 1933 — 92 years ago. The typical Sherril alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 1,200 people named Sherril are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sherril most popular?
Sherril peaked in 1947, reaching #1055 nationally. See the whole 1947 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From A cluster of new women's names with no ancestor to Sherril
Our story of Sherril
The ending is the interesting part. English has a small group of inherited men's names ending in an unstressed -il or -ol, most of them arriving from Latin or Greek by way of the church, and the group is coherent enough that the ending itself now carries a signal. Anything built with it reads slightly masculine to an English ear even when the rest of the name does not. That is how sound-symbolism works in a naming system: not by rule but by accumulation, one name at a time, until an ending has picked up an association nobody assigned it. This name sits on the boundary. The front belongs to a very large family of twentieth-century women's names with no etymology at all, and the ending belongs to an old and small family of men's names, and the result is a spelling the registers could never quite decide about.
Meaningnot established
Not established
There is nothing here to translate. The name belongs to a cluster that appeared in English within a generation and has no traceable ancestor: no Hebrew, Greek, Latin or Germanic source accounts for it, and the earliest examples are American. It is often assumed to be a form of Shirley, and that is a separate name with a separate and perfectly well-documented history as an English place name. The two are not related.
How the name formed
- A cluster of new women's names with no ancestor
- Sheryl, Cheryl and Sherry among them
- An ending borrowed from older men's names
- Sherril and Sherrill recorded for both sexes
Pronouncing Sherril
SHER-il
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the second reduced almost to nothing. Sheryl, Sherril and Sherrill are identical in speech; the differences between them exist only on forms.
Nicknames for Sherril
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
- 1933
- Most girls named
- 195377 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1055reached in 1947
- Change vs 1985
- −14.3%6 in 1986, 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.
Sherrils among us
people named Sherril 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
Sherril 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 sound is entirely familiar and needs no teaching.
- It works on the register for either child, which some families will treat as an advantage.
- Sherri is available immediately as a completely unremarkable everyday form.
- At least five spellings are in circulation and this is among the rarer ones.
- There is no meaning to give, and the popular assumption that it is a form of Shirley is wrong.
- It is closely tied to a mid-century generation of American women.
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Sherril
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Sherrils are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Sherril are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sherril in 2025?
- Sherril is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Sherril with classmates?
- Sherril 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 Sherril? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sherril and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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