Shila
Feminine · “a stone”
Shila is two names that happen to be spelled alike. In America it is almost always a written form of Sheila, the Irish name that Australia turned into a word for any woman at all. In India it is a name in its own right, from a Sanskrit word that means both a stone and a settled character — the same metaphor English uses when it calls somebody solid.
How old is the name Shila?
Shila first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Shila alive today was born around 1989, making them about 36 years old. About 1,000 people named Shila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shila most popular?
Shila peaked in 1975, reaching #2811 nationally. See the whole 1975 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From a Sanskrit word for a stone and for steady conduct to Shila
The story of Shila
The two roads are genuinely unrelated and both are old. The Sanskrit word has been in use for well over two thousand years and turns up in inscriptions and in the names of temples; it is a word for rock, and by extension for conduct that can be relied on. The Irish name comes from a Latin family name by way of a medieval saint's cult and has nothing to do with stones or with India. A name in an American record spelled this way could be either, and the only person who knows is the family. This happens more often than name dictionaries admit: alphabets are narrow, and the world's languages keep colliding inside them.
Meaningscholars disagree
a stone, or steadiness of character
The Sanskrit word covers both senses and the connection between them is the one every language makes: what is hard does not move, and a person who does not move is dependable. As a modern Indian name it is ordinary and well understood. The Irish route is entirely separate and arrives at the same letters by accident, which is worth saying plainly because reference books tend to pick one and pretend the other does not exist.
How the name formed
- a Sanskrit word for a stone and for steady conduct
- a Latin family name gives Irish its own separate name
- Sheila carried to Australia and turned into a common noun
- Shila appears in American records in the 1940s
- used by families arriving from two different directions
Related forms: Shila · Sile · Sheila
Pronouncing Shila
SHEE-lah
Two syllables, stress at the front. The Indian reading gives the two vowels more equal weight and a lighter final a; the Irish-American reading is closer to Sheila and often identical to it.
Nicknames for Shila
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
- 1941
- Most girls named
- 198028 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2811reached in 1975
- Change vs 2020
- 0.0%5 in 2023, from 5
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.
Shila in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shila in Hindi — same name
- Sile in Irish — related form
- Sheila in English — spelling variant
Shilas among us
people named Shila 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
Shila 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
- Five letters, no silent anything, and readable at sight in at least two continents.
- It carries a real meaning in one of its two languages, which is more than most short names manage.
- It works equally well for a family from India and a family from Ireland, which is a rare kind of flexibility.
- Sheila is far commoner in America and will be written instead.
- In Australia and parts of Britain the related word means any woman, and it is not always polite.
- The two origins pull in different directions and she will end up explaining which one she means.
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What they receive
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Shila
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shilas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Shila are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shila in 2025?
- Shila is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shila with classmates?
- Shila 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 Shila? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shila and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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