Sharlie
A feminine name derived from the names Charlotte and Charlie.
Name Census estimates that about 266 living Americans carry the first name Sharlie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sharlie today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sharlie births was 1933 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sharlie. 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 Sharlie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
266
~ 1 in 1,288,550 Americans
Peak year
1933
20 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2016 SSA rank
#18,460
Tracked since 1933
Census
Sharlie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 372 people with the first name Sharlie, which placed it at #25,491 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
#25,491
National first-name rank
People counted
372
372 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sharlie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharlie is White at 72.8%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Sharlie 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 Sharlie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.8% · 271
- Black or African American13.7% · 51
- Hispanic or Latino5.1% · 19
- Two or more races4.8% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 5
Popularity
Sharlie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sharlie from the 1930s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 90 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sharlie 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 Sharlie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sharlie
The name Sharlie is thought to have originated from the Old English word "scearlic," which means "little shears" or "small scissors." This name was likely given to children born in families that worked as tailors or seamstresses during the Middle Ages in England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sharlie can be found in the Domesday Book, a great survey of landowners and properties in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. There is a listing for a family headed by a man named Sharlie the Tailor in the village of Swaffham, Norfolk.
In the 13th century, there are records of a Sharlie of Bury St. Edmunds, a renowned embroiderer and needleworker who created intricate designs for church vestments and tapestries. His work was highly sought after by wealthy patrons and religious orders throughout England.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Sharlie Boleyn (1504-1537) was a member of the English gentry and a distant relative of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. Sharlie Boleyn was known for his patronage of the arts and his collection of illuminated manuscripts.
In the 17th century, Sharlie Cromwell (1626-1658) was the youngest son of Oliver Cromwell, the Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland during the Commonwealth period. Sharlie served as a military officer and was involved in the English Civil War.
Another historical figure with the name Sharlie was Sharlie Mackintosh (1765-1828), a Scottish soldier and author who wrote several books on military tactics and strategy. He served in the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and was highly respected for his expertise in military affairs.
While the name Sharlie was more commonly used in the past, it has become quite rare in modern times. However, its unique origins and historical significance make it a distinctive and intriguing name with a rich cultural heritage.
People
Sharlie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sharlie 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
Sharlie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sharlie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 266 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sharlie 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 1,288,550 US residents.
Is Sharlie a common name?
We classify Sharlie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 342 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sharlie most popular?
The single biggest year for Sharlie was 1933, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sharlie is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sharlie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 372 people with the name Sharlie, or 0.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #25,491 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 Sharlie 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 Sharlie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sharlie leans strongly female. 374 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 6 male bearers (1.6%). 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 Sharlie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sharlie is White at 72.8%. The next largest groups are Black (13.7%) and Hispanic (5.1%). 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 Sharlie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sharlie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.8% (271 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 Sharlie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sharlie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sharlie 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 Sharlie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sharlie 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 Sharlie 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 Sharlie?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.