Shirlene
Feminine · “bright clearing”
Shirley was a man's name until one child actress arrived. It is an English place name — bright clearing, or shire clearing, from the same scir that opens Sherwood — and it went to boys for centuries. Then a six-year-old became the biggest film star in America and the name changed sex inside a decade.
How old is the name Shirlene?
Shirlene first appears in US birth records in 1923 — 102 years ago. The typical Shirlene alive today was born around 1953, making them about 72 years old. About 3,500 people named Shirlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Shirlene most popular?
Shirlene peaked in 1936, reaching #520 nationally. See the whole 1936 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From scir leah to Shirlene
The story of Shirlene
Shirley Temple was born in nineteen twenty-eight and was the top box-office draw in America by six. The effect on the name is one of the clearest in the whole record: Shirley goes from a men's surname-name to one of the most-given women's names in the country within about five years, and it has never gone back. Shirlene, Shirleen and Shirlee all follow in the wake of that, using the endings that were productive at the time on a base that had only just become available.
Meaningscholars disagree
bright clearing; or shire clearing
Old English scir is two words that fell together — one meaning bright and one meaning a district or share — and leah is a clearing. Both readings are defended for the place names that carry it. The second element is not in doubt. The -ene ending in this version is a twentieth-century American suffix and adds nothing to either reading.
How the name formed
- scir leah
- Shirley
- Shirlene
Pronouncing Shirlene
shur-LEEN
shur-LEEN, two syllables, stress at the back, the ending fully sounded. Some say SHUR-leen with the weight at the front, and both are heard. Shirlene and Shirleen are said identically.
Nicknames for Shirlene
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
- 1923
- Most girls named
- 1956159 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #520reached in 1936
- Change vs 2006
- 0.0%5 in 2010, 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.
Shirlenes among us
people named Shirlene 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
Shirlene 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 Old English place name behind it is documented and its two readings are both attractive.
- The -ene ending is written the way it is said, with nothing left to convention.
- Shirl works as a short form, though it arrives from others more often than from home.
- Shirleen is an equally common spelling, so the ending is dictated every time.
- The base name is very strongly associated with one American generation and one child star.
- The -ene ending dates the name to the first half of the last century about as precisely as a name can be dated.
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What they receive
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Shirlene
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Shirlenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,500 people named Shirlene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Shirlene in 2025?
- Shirlene is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Shirlene with classmates?
- Shirlene 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
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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