Shirley

Where Shirley comes from

English place name from Old English sċīr (“county”) + lēah (“meadow”). Equivalent to shire + -ley (“lea”). More at shire, leigh.
— Wiktionary's entry for Shirley
  • 2 syllables
  • Vowel-ended
Shirley through the years
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #628 among girls, with 8 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1887
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name. From this year on, more girls have.
  3. 1928
    Shirley Temple born
    American actress and diplomat
  4. 1934
    Around this time: Shirley Temple in Bright Eyes
    Film, 1934 · Source · Date
    “It was eventually brought to its highest popularity, in the 1930s, by the fame of child star Shirley Temple.”
  5. 1934
    Shirley MacLaine born
    American actress
  6. 1935
    Peak, #2
    42,366 babies named Shirley, the most in any year.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
  • A female given name transferred from the surname, popular from the 1920s to the 1950s.
Namesakes
  • Shirley MacLaine · American actress, born 1934
  • Shirley Temple · American actress and diplomat, 1928–2014
  • Shirley Chisholm · first black woman elected to the United States Congress, 1924–2005
  • Shirley Booth · American actress, 1898–1992
  • Shirley Bassey · Welsh singer, born 1937

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record. Events show what happened around then, not why parents chose the name. Quotes are from the linked Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA 4.0).