Sherman
An English masculine name derived from the Old English words "sceran" meaning "to cut, shear" and "mann" meaning "man".
Name Census estimates that about 20,012 living Americans carry the first name Sherman. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Sherman today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherman births was 1951 (644 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherman. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Sherman is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 203 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 17,127 Americans
Peak year
1951
644 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,840
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sherman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 17,707 people with the first name Sherman, which placed it at #1,724 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
#1,724
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
17,707 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherman is White at 46.5%. The next largest groups are Black (42.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%). 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 Sherman 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 Sherman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.5% · 8,237
- Black or African American42.5% · 7,528
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.7% · 828
- Two or more races3.1% · 557
- Hispanic or Latino1.8% · 322
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.3% · 235
Gender
Gender distribution for Sherman
Out of the 39,376 babies given the name Sherman since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Sherman as a male name
- Ranked #4,840 in 2024
- 21 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1950 (635 births)
Sherman as a female name
- Ranked #12,962 in 1987
- 5 female births in 1987
- Peak: 1959 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherman appears almost entirely male. Of the 17,698 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Sherman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherman from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 5,851 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
Sherman 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 Sherman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Shermans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 45 states and territories. Texas, Illinois, Virginia recorded the most babies named Sherman, while New Mexico, Hawaii, New Hampshire recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 723 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherman
The name Sherman has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the words "schear" and "mann," which together mean "shear man" or "shearer of cloth." This suggests that the name may have initially been an occupational surname for someone who worked with shearing or cutting fabric.
During the Middle Ages, the name Sherman was prevalent in various parts of England, particularly in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. It was a common surname among tradesmen and artisans involved in the textile industry.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sherman can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, a historical record compiled by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as "Serman" and "Screman," which were likely variations of the spelling at the time.
In the 13th century, the name Sherman appeared in the Hundred Rolls of England, a census-like record of landowners and tenants. This indicates that the name had become well-established among the English populace by that time.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the first name Sherman. One of the earliest was Sherman Coolidge (1783-1845), an American politician who served as a United States Representative from Massachusetts.
Another prominent figure was Sherman Minton (1890-1965), an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana and later as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
In the realm of literature, Sherman Alexie (born 1966) is a renowned Native American novelist, poet, and filmmaker known for works such as "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" and "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian."
In the world of sports, Sherman Douglas (born 1966) was a professional basketball player who played in the NBA for several teams, including the Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics.
Another notable figure is Sherman Hemsley (1938-2012), an American actor and comedian best known for his role as George Jefferson on the popular television sitcoms "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sherman
People
Sherman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherman 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
Sherman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,012 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherman 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 17,127 US residents.
Is Sherman a common name?
We classify Sherman as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 39,376 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherman most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherman was 1951, when 644 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherman is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sherman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 17,707 people with the name Sherman, or 5.86 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,724 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 Sherman 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 Sherman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherman appears almost entirely male. Of the 17,698 people counted with this name, 99.3% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Sherman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherman is White at 46.5%. The next largest groups are Black (42.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.7%). 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 Sherman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sherman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.5% (8,237 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 Sherman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherman a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Sherman in the SSA data are male. 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 Sherman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherman 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 Sherman 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 share the name Sherman?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.