Shirley

English

"bright meadow"

Shirley Origin and Meaning

The name Shirley is a girl's name of English origin meaning "bright meadow".

Shirley Temple almost single-handedly lifted the gloom of the Great Depression, and in tribute (and perhaps wishing for a similarly curly-headed, dimpled darling of their own), thousands of parents of that generation gave their little girls her name. In 1935, Shirley was the second most popular girls' name in the country with more than 42,000 babies named Shirley.

In an earlier time Shirley was used primarily for boys, but the tide turned with the publication of Charlotte Bronte's novel Shirley in 1849, the story of a character whose parents had selected the name for a boy child, then decided to use it anyway when he turned out to be a she.

In addition to Shirley Temple, there have been Shirleys MacLaine and Jones and writer Shirley Jackson, as well as rocker Shirley Manson.

Shirley Rank in US Top 1000

# 911 in the US

Shirley Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 1240 on Nameberry

Shirley Popularity

• 1240 Nameberry 2024
• 552 Unique 2023

20 Names Similar to Shirley

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Shirley.

• Griselda
• Phyllis
• Doris
• Thelma
• Gerald
• Aure
• Ermine
• Verve
• Kerr
• Malka
• Irma
• Beryl
• Bertha
• Elfrida
• Pru
• Khione
• Judy
• Chaplin
• Brenda
• Sistine

Famous People Named Shirley

• Shirley Temple Black American actress and diplomat
• Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty) American actress
• Shirley Hardie Jackson American author
• Shirley Ann Manson Scottish lead singer of band Garbage
• Shirley Henderson Scottish actress
• Shirley Mae Jones American actress
• Shirley Veronica Bassey Welsh singer
• Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm first black U.S. Congresswoman (New York)
• Shirley Elizabeth Collins English folk singer
• Shirley Clarke American film director
• Shirley Lynn Phelps Roper, American lawyer and activist
• Shirley Booth (born Marjory Ford) American actress
• Shirley Frances Babashoff American swimmer
• Shirley Natasja Clamp Swedish pop singer
• Shirley Kwan (Shuyi) Hong Kong singer
• Shirley Knight American actress
• Shirley Hubertina Maria Adriana Kocaçınar Turkish footballer
• Shirley Vivian Teresa Brittain Williams Baroness Williams of Crosby, British politician
• Shirley Zwerus Dutch singer and pianist
• Shirley Chung Chinese,American chef
• Shirley Yeung (Sze ki), Hong Kong actress
• Shirley Douglas Canadian actress, mother of actor Kiefer Sutherland

Shirley in Pop Culture

• Shirley Feeney character on TV's "Laverne & Shirley"
• Shirley Keeldar main character in "Shirley," by Charlotte Bronte
• Shirley Bennett character on TV's "Community"
• Shirley Ryan character on TV's "Love Child"
• Shirley Partridge main character on TV's "The Partridge Family," played by Shirley Jones
• Shirley Miller main character on TV's "Shirley," played by Shirley Jones
• Shirley Brahms character in British TV series Are You Being Served?
• Shirley the Loon character in Tiny Toon Adventures
• Shirley Fenette a character in the anime Code Geass
• Shirley Yeager character in anime Strike Witches
• Shirley character in The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3
• Shirley a hairdresser in the videogame MySims
• Shirley Fennes a character in the videogame Tales of Legendia
• Shirley a main character in animated TV series "Shaun the Sheep"
• Shirley Taylorson character in video game Acidic
• Shirley Yang character in "Ghost Blows Out the Light" by Zhang Muye
• Anne Shirley main character in the "Anne of Green Gables" series, who had a son named Shirley Blythe
• Hotel Shirley Sierra Madre, California, built in 1911, restored in 1998
• Shirley Crain character in "The Haunting of Hill House"