Sherwin
Masculine · “Middle English shear-wind”
Sherwin is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 3,769 boys against 15 girls since 1880.
Sherwin means cut-wind, a nickname for someone fast on his feet. Medieval English made surnames out of little imperative sentences: Shakespeare, Waghorn, Drinkwater, Golightly, Makepeace, Doolittle, Turnbull. Each describes a person doing something, and each was presumably funny when it was given.
How old is the name Sherwin?
Sherwin first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Sherwin alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 2,500 people named Sherwin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Sherwin most popular?
Sherwin peaked in 1935, reaching #757 nationally. Today it ranks #8243, 7,486 places below that high. See the whole 1935 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Sherwin
The verb-plus-noun nickname is a distinct class of English surname and it is one of the few that lets us hear medieval humor directly. Shakespeare is shake-spear, a swaggerer or a soldier. Waghorn blows a horn. Drinkwater is either a teetotaller or, more likely, someone too poor for ale. Golightly walks quietly. Makepeace settles quarrels. Doolittle is idle. Crakebone breaks bones. The pattern is French in structure, matching names like Boileau, drink-water, and Taillefer, cut-iron, and it entered English after the Conquest. Most of these names disappeared; the ones that survive do so because a family happened to carry them into the period when surnames became hereditary. Sherwin is among the more flattering of them, and the modern American name arrives by way of the surname rather than from any given-name tradition.
Meaningscholars disagree
Middle English shear-wind, a swift runner
The usual derivation is from Middle English shere, to cut or shear, and wind, giving one who cuts through the wind, a nickname for a fast runner or messenger. An alternative reads it as an Old English personal name Scirwine, from scir, bright, and wine, friend. The first is generally preferred. As an American given name Sherwin peaks in 1935.
Pronouncing Sherwin
SHUR-win
Two syllables, stress on the first. The second syllable keeps a full vowel rather than reducing, which distinguishes it from names ending in -en and -on. Sherwin and Sherwyn are the same name.
Nicknames for Sherwin
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
- 1912
- Most boys named
- 193566 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #757reached in 1935
- Change vs 2023
- 0.0%9 in 2025, from 9
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.
Sherwin in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California.
Sherwins among us
people named Sherwin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 189,786 born in 2025 was named Sherwin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Lucille test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Sherwin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Lucille climbed just as high around 1909, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Lucille's path sketches the road Sherwin is walking now.
Sherwin sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Sherwin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Sherwin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The nickname behind it is vivid and complimentary.
- Win is a short form with an unambiguously positive sense.
- It is distinctive without being difficult.
- A paint company shares the name and dominates search results.
- It reads as mid-twentieth century in American use.
- The derivation is probable rather than certain.
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Sherwin
Masculine · #8243 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Sherwins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Sherwin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Sherwin in 2025?
- Sherwin ranks #8243 among US boy names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Sherwin?
- About 1 in every 189,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Sherwin — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Sherwin with classmates?
- Sherwin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Sherwin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Danial#8243 · Ogden#8243 · Aaren#8243 · Trinity#8243 · Kourtney#8243 · Maury#8243 · Lindon#8243 · Elbert#8243
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Sherwin? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Sherwin and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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