Shilo
Feminine · “tranquil place”
Shilo is given to both — 1,853 girls and 1,270 boys since 1880. See Shilo as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Shiloh was Israel's sanctuary for three centuries before Jerusalem existed, and archaeologists have found the burnt layer where it ended.
How old is the name Shilo?
Shilo first appears in US birth records in 1970 — 55 years ago. The typical Shilo alive today was born around 1988, making them about 37 years old. About 1,800 people named Shilo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shilo most popular?
Shilo peaked in 1978, reaching #1341 nationally. Today it ranks #4546, 3,205 places below that high. See the whole 1978 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Shiloh to Shilo
The story of Shilo
Shiloh housed the tabernacle and the ark through the whole period of the judges — Hannah prayed there, Samuel grew up there — until the Philistines destroyed it, and Jeremiah later uses its ruin as a warning to Jerusalem. Excavation at Khirbet Seilun has found a destruction layer that fits. The American Civil War battle of 1862 took its name from a church, and that is where much American use comes from.
Meaningscholars disagree
tranquil place; or a disputed prophetic word
The Hebrew place name is generally read from a root meaning quiet or at rest. A separate line comes from a famously obscure phrase in Genesis 49, until Shiloh comes, which has been read a dozen ways for two thousand years.
How the name formed
- Shiloh
- Shilo
Related forms: Shilo · Shiloh
Pronouncing Shilo
SHY-loh
Two syllables, first stressed. Shilo and Shiloh are said identically.
Nicknames for Shilo
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
- 1970
- Most girls named
- 197889 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1341reached in 1978
- Change vs 2024
- +11.1%30 in 2025, from 27
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.
Shilo in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Shilo in Hebrew — same name
- Shiloh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Shilos among us
people named Shilo are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was named Shilo
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Shilo
- #4546
- Shilo on the 2025 chart
- #275
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Shilo went to 30 girls in 2025, but Shiloh, Shyloh and Shylo are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,167, which makes it the 275th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,271 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,377 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 53,576 for Shilo itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Greer test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Shilo's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Greer climbed just as high around 1943, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Greer's path sketches the road Shilo is walking now.
Shilo 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
Where Shilo is headed
Shilo looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 17% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Shilo beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Shilo in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A real and excavated place with three centuries of history behind it.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Five letters and two syllables, quick to write.
- Shiloh is the standard spelling and will be written for her.
- The Civil War battle was one of the bloodiest of the war.
- It is used for both sexes, so forms may guess wrong.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Shilo
Feminine · #4546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Shilos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Shilo are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Shilo?
- Shilo is one of 4 recorded spellings. Shiloh is the more common one — 1,098 births in 2025 against 30 for Shilo.
- How popular is the name Shilo in 2025?
- Shilo ranks #4546 among US girl names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Shilo?
- About 1 in every 53,576 US girls born in 2025 was named Shilo — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Shilo with classmates?
- Shilo will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Shilo
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amie#4546 · Rashell#4546 · Renatta#4546 · Raisa#4546 · Amena#4546 · Aryn#4546 · Nadiya#4546 · Jeanne#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Shilo? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Shilo and another name?
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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