Humanverse

Shiann vs Shirlene

American parents have registered 4,856 Shirlenes since 1880, against 2,008 Shianns. Neither name reached five babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Shiann against Shirlene, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Shiann Shirlene

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

Of the 98 years in which either name was published, Shirlene for 63 years and Shiann for 35 years. The lead changed hands 3 times.

Side by side

  Shiann Shirlene
Total US births 2,0084,856
Most in one year 135159
Babies in 2025 under 5under 5
Estimated living today 2,0003,400
Median age today 2568
Peak year 19981956
Best rank 1,312th girls782nd girls
Rank in 2025 unrankedunranked
First recorded 19751923
Girls / boys 2,008 / 04,856 / 0

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 Shirlenes alive today are over 68; half the Shianns are over 25. That is 43 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Shiann and Shirlene.