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Meaning of the nameShirley

Shirley is a spelling of the name Sirlei, which means “bright clearing, from an English place name”.

Meaning

“bright clearing, from an English place name”

Source: Behind the Name: Shirley

People (2022)
42,827
Rank in Brazil
#633
Median age
43 years
2010 Census
35,155
people

Shirley in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Shirley, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1980s (11,842 people).

42,494 women 333 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Shirley is most common

States with the highest share of people named Shirley in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Minas Gerais 0.032%
  2. Distrito Federal 0.031%
  3. Rio de Janeiro 0.031%
  4. São Paulo 0.027%
  5. Amazonas 0.027%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo11,9040.027%
Minas Gerais6,4940.032%
Rio de Janeiro5,0300.031%
Bahia2,1740.015%
Pernambuco2,0550.023%
Pará1,7940.022%
Goiás1,6270.023%
Paraná1,5200.013%
Amazonas1,0430.027%
Espírito Santo9830.026%
Distrito Federal8860.031%
Rio Grande do Sul8760.008%
Ceará8480.010%
Santa Catarina7840.010%
Paraíba6300.016%
Maranhão6250.009%
Alagoas5420.017%
Rio Grande do Norte5250.016%
Sergipe5180.023%
Mato Grosso4300.012%
Mato Grosso do Sul4060.015%
Piauí3100.010%
Tocantins2410.016%
Rondônia1890.012%
Amapá1890.026%
Roraima1030.016%
Acre1010.012%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

The spelling Shirley

It is the English form of the name, with sh and the ending -ley, and the only one in the group with a documented origin.

About the name Sirlei

The origin of the spellings Sirlei, Shirlei and Sirley is not known for certain. Shirley, the English form, comes from a surname that arose from a place name: Behind the Name reads the place name as 'bright clearing', from Old English elements for 'bright' and 'wood, clearing', and Wiktionary breaks it down as sċīr, 'county', and lēah, 'meadow'. Sirlei is almost always a feminine name and is concentrated among people born between the 1950s and 1970s. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 42,960 people named Sirlei, with a median age of 52. Proportionally, it is most common in Rio Grande do Sul.

Other spellings of Sirlei

SpellingPeople (2022)
Sirlei42,960
Shirley42,827
Shirlei18,089
Sirley11,816

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Shirley · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  2. Behind the Name: Shirley · behindthename.com · meaning
  3. Wiktionary: Shirley · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  4. Behind the Name: Shirley · behindthename.com · origin

Questions about the name Shirley

What does the name Shirley mean?

Shirley means “bright clearing, from an English place name”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Shirley in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 42,827 people with the first name Shirley, which ranks it number 633 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1980s.

Is Shirley a boy's or a girl's name?

Shirley is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 42,494 women and 333 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Shirley?

Shirley is a name of English origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Shirley most common?

Proportionally, in Minas Gerais: 0.032% of the state's population is named Shirley (6,494 people), according to the 2022 Census.

What are the other spellings of Shirley?

Sirlei, Shirlei and Sirley. IBGE counts each spelling separately.

More names of English origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Shirley with a source. See the methodology.