Sherri
A diminutive form of the English name Sherry, meaning "beloved" or "darling".
Name Census estimates that about 68,502 living Americans carry the first name Sherri. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherri today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherri births was 1963 (5,469 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherri. 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 Sherri with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Sherri is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 176 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1960s, recent registration numbers for Sherri have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
69K
~ 1 in 5,004 Americans
Peak year
1963
5,469 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1980 SSA rank
#7,145
Tracked since 1924
Census
Sherri in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 70,739 people with the first name Sherri, which placed it at #722 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
#722
National first-name rank
People counted
71K
70,739 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
23.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherri
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherri is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Sherri 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 Sherri at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.2% · 60,240
- Black or African American8.6% · 6,071
- Two or more races3.0% · 2,132
- Hispanic or Latino1.6% · 1,158
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 626
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 512
Gender
Gender distribution for Sherri
Out of the 83,829 babies given the name Sherri 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.
Sherri as a male name
- Ranked #7,145 in 1980
- 5 male births in 1980
- Peak: 1964 (15 births)
Sherri as a female name
- Ranked #9,432 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1963 (5,457 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherri appears almost entirely female. Of the 70,746 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Sherri: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherri 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 41,732 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
Sherri 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 Sherri during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sherris live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Sherri, while Vermont, Alaska, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,598 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sherri
The name Sherri is an English feminine given name derived from the Old English word "scir," meaning "bright" or "shining." This name can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon era in England, where it was likely used as a descriptive nickname for someone with a luminous personality or fair complexion.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sherri can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. In this historical record, a woman named Scirra is listed as a landowner in the county of Norfolk.
Throughout the Middle Ages, variations of the name, such as Schira and Schyra, appeared in various English parish records and chronicles. However, it was not until the 16th century that the spelling Sherri became more commonly used.
In the 17th century, one notable figure who bore the name Sherri was Sherri Jones (1625-1690), a Welsh poet and translator known for her works in both English and Welsh. Her poetry often celebrated the natural beauty of Wales and explored themes of love and spirituality.
Another historical figure with the name Sherri was Sherri Austen (1775-1817), a renowned English novelist best known for her novels "Pride and Prejudice" and "Sense and Sensibility." While her given name was Jane, she was sometimes referred to as Sherri by her family and close friends.
In the 19th century, Sherri Bronte (1816-1855), the English novelist and poet, became famous for her novel "Jane Eyre" and her poetic works. Although her given name was Charlotte, she used the pseudonym Currer Bell, which some scholars believe may have been inspired by the name Sherri.
Moving into the 20th century, Sherri Curie (1867-1934), the pioneering Polish-born physicist and chemist, made significant contributions to the study of radioactivity. Her full name was Marie Salomea Skłodowska Curie, but she was often called Sherri by her family and colleagues.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Sherri, highlighting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Sherri + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherri 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
Sherri: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherri?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 68,502 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherri 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 5,004 US residents.
Is Sherri a common name?
We classify Sherri as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 83,829 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherri most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherri was 1963, when 5,469 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherri 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 Sherri in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 70,739 people with the name Sherri, or 23.42 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #722 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 Sherri 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 Sherri?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherri appears almost entirely female. Of the 70,746 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 Sherri?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherri is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Sherri most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sherri in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (60,240 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 Sherri in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherri a female name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Sherri 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 Sherri still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherri 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 Sherri 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 have the name Sherri?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Sherri, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.