The story in the numbers

148,382 girls have been named Shelby in the United States since 1913, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1991, with 10,220 births — 0.55% of all girls recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 294 → 656).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1995, and the 1990s alone account for 49%. It has spent 90 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 14 of them in the top 100.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 16,404 boys have also been given it, 10.0% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Shelby

6,077

4,895

3,075

3,268

5,971

7,880

71,994

31,309

11,215

2,557

In 1991, its biggest year

Shelby was the 33rd most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1991 were Ashley, Jessica, Brittany, Amanda and Samantha. See all of 1991.

Names that rose and fell with Shelby

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.