Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Shelby was most popular in 1991, when 10,744 American babies were given the name — ranking #71 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,197, with 485 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 165,279 people named Shelby.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Shelby is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 146 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 165,279 American births named Shelby 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 150,420 are estimated to be alive today.
485 American babies were named Shelby in 2025, ranking #1,197 that year.
Shelby is falling. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 523 births a year, against 1,309 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -60% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Shelby is mostly a girl’s name — 90.0% of the 165,279 Americans given it were girls and 10.0% were boys. It changed hands: since 1936 it has gone mainly to girls, having gone mainly to boys before that. In births since 2016 it is 94% girls and 6% 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.
Roughly 150,420 Americans named Shelby are alive today — 91% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 31 years old, and half are between 25 and 35. That is a narrow band: Shelby arrived and faded within about a decade rather than staying in steady use.
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.
Old English · "willow farm"
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Shelby on the interactive charts
About · Privacy · Contact
Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org