girl's name
Sheila
SHEE-luh
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 244,190
Scotland
#531
1993 births
Sheila is the Irish form of Cecilia, meaning blind — and parents outside Ireland should know it became Australian slang for a woman in the nineteenth century, which is why it barely charts there.
- Sheila is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 1962, when 8,807 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 51,007 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1907.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Sheila over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 33 |
| 1910s | 388 |
| 1920s | 1,858 |
| 1930s | 11,008 |
| 1940s | 35,830 |
| 1950s | 70,329 |
| 1960s | 74,289 |
| 1970s | 26,602 |
| 1980s | 9,585 |
| 1990s | 4,646 |
| 2000s | 2,868 |
| 2010s | 1,349 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 637 |
What Sheila means
Sheila means blind, carried through Cecilia from a Roman family name. The Roman name recorded a trait of some distant ancestor, as Roman family names often did.
Where Sheila comes from
Sheila anglicizes the Irish Síle, which is the Irish form of Cecilia — from the Roman gens name Caecilius, built on caecus, blind. Roman family names frequently recorded a physical characteristic without embarrassment, the same pattern that gave Claudius its meaning of lame. Saint Cecilia became patron of music through a mistranslation of her passion, in which she sang to God in her heart. From the mid nineteenth century sheila was used in Australia and New Zealand as a generic word for a woman or girl, apparently from the frequency of the name among Irish immigrants, and that usage has effectively retired the name there.
Sheila in use
Sheila peaked in the United States in 1962, when 8,807 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in three of the seven markets we track — 2680th in the United States on 65 births, 3595th in England and Wales and 3936th in Canada — across 244,190 lifetime births. It does not currently chart in Ireland, where the Síle spelling carries what demand remains.
How popular is Sheila?
In 2025, Sheila was given to 65 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Sheila is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Sheila is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Sheïla | Sheïla is a rare spelling of Sheila, written with a diaeresis and recorded about 10 times, mostly in France. | 10 |
Names that peaked alongside Sheila
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Sheila also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Sheila over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Sheila in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Sheila
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Sheila — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Sheila
What does the name Sheila mean?
Blind, carried through Cecilia from the Roman family name Caecilius.
Why do Australians say sheila for a woman?
From the mid nineteenth century, apparently because the name was so common among Irish immigrants.
Is Sheila an Irish name?
The form Síle is Irish, though the name itself came into Irish from Latin.
How popular is Sheila?
2680th in the United States, down from a 1962 peak of 8,807 births.
Is Sheila a girl's or a boy's name?
Sheila is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Sheila?
Sheila has 2 syllables.
Is Sheila a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Sheila currently ranks #2,680 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.