Sherrlyn
A feminine name derived from the English word "sherry", meaning "bright and brilliant".
Name Census estimates that about 34 living Americans carry the first name Sherrlyn. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Sherrlyn today is around 72 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sherrlyn births was 1947 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sherrlyn. 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
- • The typical person named Sherrlyn is about 72 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Sherrlyns were born before 1964.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Sherrlyn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
34
~ 1 in 10,081,010 Americans
Peak year
1947
11 babies that year
Average age
72
years old
1963 SSA rank
#5,228
Tracked since 1947
Census
Sherrlyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 103 people with the first name Sherrlyn, which placed it at #53,018 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
#53,018
National first-name rank
People counted
103
103 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
56.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sherrlyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherrlyn is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (32.0%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White56.3% · 58
- Black or African American32.0% · 33
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 5
- Two or more races4.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 1
Popularity
Sherrlyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sherrlyn from the 1940s through to the 1960s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 32 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
Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn
The name Sherrlyn is a relatively modern English feminine given name that emerged in the 20th century. It is believed to be a combination of the English names Sherri and Lynn, with Sherri being a diminutive of the name Sherry, which itself is derived from the French name Cherie, meaning "beloved" or "darling."
The name Lynn is an English name with Old English roots, deriving from the word "linn" meaning a waterfall or a pool. It was originally a surname but later gained popularity as a feminine given name in its own right. The combination of Sherri and Lynn, forming Sherrlyn, is thought to have been created as a unique and distinctive name in the mid-20th century.
While the name Sherrlyn does not have a long or ancient history, it has been borne by several notable individuals throughout the latter half of the 20th century. One of the earliest recorded examples is Sherrlyn Munger (1940-2017), an American actress and model who appeared in various television shows and films in the 1960s and 1970s.
Another prominent Sherrlyn was Sherrlyn Sumter (born 1958), an American lawyer and judge who served as a circuit court judge in Florida from 2005 to 2021. Sherrlyn Griffith (born 1961) is a Canadian politician who served as a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2003 to 2007.
In the field of sports, Sherrlyn Goldbeck (born 1962) is a former American professional tennis player who reached the quarterfinals of the French Open in 1983. Sherrlyn Billman (born 1968) is a former American professional basketball player who played in the WNBA for the Sacramento Monarchs and the Utah Starzz.
While not an exhaustive list, these examples highlight the presence of the name Sherrlyn among notable individuals in various fields, primarily in the latter half of the 20th century and the early 21st century. The name's modern origins and its unique combination of elements contribute to its distinctive character.
People
Sherrlyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sherrlyn 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
Sherrlyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sherrlyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 34 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sherrlyn 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 10,081,010 US residents.
Is Sherrlyn a common name?
We classify Sherrlyn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 48.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 51 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sherrlyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Sherrlyn was 1947, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sherrlyn is about 72 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sherrlyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 103 people with the name Sherrlyn, or 0.03 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #53,018 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 Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sherrlyn appears almost entirely female. Of the 98 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 Sherrlyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sherrlyn is White at 56.3%. The next largest groups are Black (32.0%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Sherrlyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sherrlyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 56.3% (58 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 Sherrlyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sherrlyn a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn 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 Sherrlyn?
See how many people share the name Sherrlyn on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.