Sheri
A feminine name derived from the Hebrew name Shira, meaning "song" or "poetry".
Name Census estimates that about 49,753 living Americans carry the first name Sheri. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sheri today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sheri births was 1963 (3,107 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sheri. 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 Sheri with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sheri is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 114 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Sheri have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
50K
~ 1 in 6,889 Americans
Peak year
1963
3,107 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1975 SSA rank
#4,252
Tracked since 1928
Census
Sheri in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 52,464 people with the first name Sheri, which placed it at #866 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
#866
National first-name rank
People counted
52K
52,464 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
17.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sheri
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheri is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Black (4.9%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Sheri 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 Sheri at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.2% · 46,257
- Black or African American4.9% · 2,555
- Two or more races2.9% · 1,534
- Hispanic or Latino2.0% · 1,057
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 700
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 361
Gender
Gender distribution for Sheri
Out of the 60,571 babies given the name Sheri since 1880, 99.8% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Sheri as a male name
- Ranked #4,252 in 1975
- 8 male births in 1975
- Peak: 1963 (13 births)
Sheri as a female name
- Ranked #9,511 in 2023
- 11 female births in 2023
- Peak: 1963 (3,094 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sheri appears almost entirely female. Of the 52,459 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sheri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sheri from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 27,387 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sheri 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 Sheri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sheris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Illinois recorded the most babies named Sheri, while Vermont, Delaware, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,140 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sheri
The name Sheri is a feminine given name that originated as a shortened form of the English name Sheryl or the French name Chérie, which means "darling" or "beloved." Its roots can be traced back to the Old French word "chiere," meaning "face" or "countenance."
The earliest recorded use of the name Sheri dates back to the late 19th century in the United States. It gained popularity in the mid-20th century, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, when it became a trendy modern variation of the traditional names Sharon and Sheryl.
One of the earliest notable bearers of the name Sheri was Sheri S. Tepper, an American writer of science fiction, horror, and fantasy novels. She was born in 1929 and passed away in 2022. Her works often explored feminist themes and explored the consequences of environmental degradation.
Another famous Sheri is Sheri Moon Zombie, an American actress, model, and dancer, born in 1970. She has appeared in several horror films directed by her husband, Rob Zombie, including House of 1000 Corpses and The Lord of Salem.
In the world of music, Sheri Hinhen is a notable figure. She is an American singer and songwriter who achieved success in the 1980s as the lead vocalist of the all-female rock band Vixen.
Sheri L. Berman is a renowned American political scientist and author. Born in 1965, she is a professor at Barnard College and has written extensively on the history of democracy and social democracy in Europe.
In the realm of sports, Sheri Noren is a former American professional tennis player who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 11 in the world in 1989. She won two singles titles and four doubles titles during her career.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sheri
People
Sheri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sheri 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
Sheri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sheri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49,753 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sheri 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 6,889 US residents.
Is Sheri a common name?
We classify Sheri as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60,571 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sheri most popular?
The single biggest year for Sheri was 1963, when 3,107 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sheri is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sheri in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 52,464 people with the name Sheri, or 17.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #866 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 Sheri 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 Sheri?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sheri appears almost entirely female. Of the 52,459 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Sheri?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sheri is White at 88.2%. The next largest groups are Black (4.9%) and Two or More Races (2.9%). 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 Sheri most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sheri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.2% (46,257 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 Sheri in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sheri a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Sheri 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 Sheri still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sheri 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 Sheri 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 Americans are named Sheri?
See how many people have the name Sheri on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.