Shaelee
A feminine name of English origin meaning "from the meadow by the woods".
Name Census estimates that about 449 living Americans carry the first name Shaelee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Shaelee today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Shaelee births was 2004 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Shaelee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
449
~ 1 in 763,373 Americans
Peak year
2004
29 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,895
Tracked since 1987
Census
Shaelee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 422 people with the first name Shaelee, which placed it at #23,260 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#23,260
National first-name rank
People counted
422
422 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Shaelee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaelee is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Shaelee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Shaelee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.3% · 339
- Hispanic or Latino7.6% · 32
- Two or more races6.6% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 13
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.1% · 9
- Black or African American0.2% · 1
Popularity
Shaelee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Shaelee from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 218 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Shaelee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Shaelee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shaelees live
Origin
Meaning and history of Shaelee
The name Shaelee is a modern invention, likely originating in the late 20th century as a variant spelling of the name Shelley. It does not have a clear etymological origin or cultural background, but appears to be a creative combination of sounds intended to produce a unique and feminine name.
While the name Shaelee itself does not have a long historical record, its similarity to the name Shelley provides some potential insights. Shelley is derived from the Old English word "scielic," meaning "willow tree." The willow tree has been associated with grace, beauty, and resilience throughout various cultures, which may have influenced the popularity of names like Shelley and its variants.
As a relatively new name, there are few notable historical figures specifically named Shaelee. However, there are several individuals who share the more traditional spelling of Shelley or its variations:
1. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851), the renowned English novelist best known for her Gothic novel "Frankenstein."
2. Shelley Duvall (born 1949), an American actress and producer, known for her roles in films such as "The Shining" and "Popeye."
3. Shelley Winters (1920-2006), an American actress who won Academy Awards for her performances in "The Diary of Anne Frank" and "A Patch of Blue."
4. Shelley Long (born 1949), an American actress best known for her role as Diane Chambers on the television series "Cheers."
5. Shelley Fabares (born 1944), an American actress and singer who starred in the television series "The Donna Reed Show" and had a successful pop music career in the 1960s.
While the name Shaelee may lack a deep historical lineage, its connection to the name Shelley and the symbolism of the willow tree can imbue it with a sense of grace, resilience, and natural beauty. As a modern creation, the name offers parents the opportunity to create their own unique legacy and meaning for their child.
People
Shaelee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Shaelee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Shaelee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Shaelee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 449 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Shaelee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 763,373 US residents.
Is Shaelee a common name?
We classify Shaelee as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 458 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Shaelee most popular?
The single biggest year for Shaelee was 2004, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Shaelee is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Shaelee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 422 people with the name Shaelee, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,260 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Shaelee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Shaelee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Shaelee appears almost entirely female. Of the 429 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Shaelee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Shaelee is White at 80.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.6%) and Two or More Races (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Shaelee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Shaelee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.3% (339 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Shaelee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Shaelee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Shaelee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Shaelee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Shaelee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Shaelee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Shaelee?
Find out how many people share the name Shaelee on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.