Shemeka vs Sherri
American parents have registered 83,843 Sherris since 1880, against 1,563 Shemekas. Sherri is still ahead, with 12 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Shemeka Sherri
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Sherri has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1924 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 1982, when Shemeka had 135 and Sherri had 622.
Side by side
| Shemeka | Sherri | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 1,563 | 83,843 |
| Most in one year | 135 | 5,472 |
| Babies in 2025 | under 5 | 12 |
| Estimated living today | 1,500 | 74,000 |
| Median age today | 44 | 60 |
| Peak year | 1982 | 1963 |
| Best rank | 1,064th girls | 78th girls |
| Rank in 2025 | unranked | 8,362nd |
| First recorded | 1971 | 1924 |
| Girls / boys | 1,563 / 0 | 83,667 / 176 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Sherris alive today are over 60; half the Shemekas are over 44. That is 16 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Shemeka Mississippi (8.3×), Louisiana (6.7×), South Carolina (5.0×)
- Sherri Oklahoma (2.0×), West Virginia (1.7×), Kansas (1.7×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Shemeka and Sherri.