Sharlene
A feminine name of uncertain origin, potentially derived from the name Charlotte.
Name Census estimates that about 8,585 living Americans carry the first name Sharlene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharlene today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharlene births was 1956 (380 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharlene. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Sharlene with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
8.6K
~ 1 in 39,925 Americans
Peak year
1956
380 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,958
Tracked since 1917
Census
Sharlene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,242 people with the first name Sharlene, which placed it at #2,426 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
#2,426
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,242 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
60.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharlene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharlene is White at 60.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Sharlene 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 Sharlene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White60.6% · 6,207
- Black or African American18.6% · 1,908
- Hispanic or Latino8.8% · 898
- Asian and Pacific Islander7.3% · 751
- Two or more races3.3% · 335
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 143
Popularity
Sharlene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharlene from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 2,893 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharlene 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 Sharlene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sharlenes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, New York, Michigan recorded the most babies named Sharlene, while Nevada, New Mexico, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 187 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharlene
The name Sharlene is a feminine given name of English origin, derived from the French name Charlene, which is a feminine form of the male name Charles. The name Charles ultimately derives from the Germanic name Karl, meaning "free man" or "peasant."
Sharlene first emerged as a distinct name in the early 20th century, likely as a variant spelling of Charlene. It gained popularity in the United States and other English-speaking countries during the mid-20th century.
While the name does not have any direct historical or religious references, it shares its roots with the name Charles, which has a rich historical background. The name Charles was borne by several notable figures, including Charlemagne, the King of the Franks and the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire in the 9th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharlene can be found in the 1920 United States Census, where a handful of individuals were listed with this name. However, it was not until the mid-20th century that the name gained wider popularity.
Some notable individuals named Sharlene throughout history include:
1. Sharlene Woodards (born 1963), an American actress known for her roles in films such as "Crooklyn" and "Wag the Dog."
2. Sharlene Zackhras (born 1968), a Canadian former basketball player who competed in the 1988 and 1992 Olympic Games.
3. Sharlene Whyte (born 1976), a Jamaican sprinter who won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
4. Sharlene San Pedro (born 1981), an American singer and songwriter, best known as a member of the pop group No Secrets.
5. Sharlene Taule (born 1987), a Filipino actress and model who has appeared in several television series and films.
These individuals, spanning various fields such as acting, sports, music, and entertainment, have helped to popularize and preserve the name Sharlene throughout the latter half of the 20th century and into the 21st century.
People
Sharlene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharlene 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
Sharlene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharlene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,585 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharlene 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 39,925 US residents.
Is Sharlene a common name?
We classify Sharlene as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,166 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharlene most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharlene was 1956, when 380 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharlene is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharlene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,242 people with the name Sharlene, or 3.39 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,426 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 Sharlene 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 Sharlene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharlene appears almost entirely female. Of the 10,243 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Sharlene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharlene is White at 60.6%. The next largest groups are Black (18.6%) and Hispanic (8.8%). 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 Sharlene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sharlene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 60.6% (6,207 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 Sharlene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharlene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharlene 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 Sharlene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharlene 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 Sharlene 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 named Sharlene?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.