Shirley

Origin & meaning

Shirley is a given name of English origin, traditionally understood to mean from a place name meaning 'bright clearing'. Names like this one traveled far from their roots — carried by scripture, saints, royalty, and popular culture — before settling into everyday American use. Its meaning has stayed remarkably steady even as its pronunciation and spelling shifted from one language to the next.

Popularity by decade

Given names rise and fall with each generation. Shirley saw its strongest years around the 1960s, and its relative popularity across the second half of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first is sketched below. Reading a name’s peak decade is often a useful clue to a person’s likely age.

• 1950s88
• 1960s94
• 1970s74
• 1980s44
• 1990s26
• 2000s34
• 2010s62

Relative index (0–100), shown for illustration. Peaks and dips reflect broad generational trends.