Shelba
Recorded 1935–1982 · United States
Shelba was most popular in 1937, when 349 American babies were given the name — ranking #621 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 2,141 people named Shelba.
Shelba over time
How old is the name Shelba?
Shelba first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1935, which makes it about 90 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 43 of the 91 years since. It was last recorded in 1982.
How many people are named Shelba?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 2,141 American births named Shelba between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 1,138 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named Shelba in 2025?
Shelba was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Is Shelba a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record Shelba is a girl’s name — 99.8% of the 2,141 Americans given it were girls and 0.2% were boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named Shelba?
Roughly 1,138 Americans named Shelba are alive today — 53% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 83 years old, and half are between 71 and 87.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Where Shelba is most concentrated
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
Explore further
See Shelba on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org