girl's name
Sherry
SHER-ee
- Origin English
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 6
- Popularity Rare
- Births on record 231,461
Sherry is a girl's name that appears to have been taken from the wine, whose own name is a corruption of the Spanish town Jerez. It belongs to the mid-century American cohort that fell hardest, from 9,261 births to 23.
- Sherry is a name of English origin.
- Peaked in 1962, when 9,261 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 144,155 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1909.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 1.
Sherry 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 | 5 |
| 1910s | 88 |
| 1920s | 601 |
| 1930s | 3,792 |
| 1940s | 32,947 |
| 1950s | 68,500 |
| 1960s | 77,778 |
| 1970s | 34,358 |
| 1980s | 8,641 |
| 1990s | 2,405 |
| 2000s | 1,012 |
| 2010s | 618 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 168 |
What Sherry means
Sherry is generally given as darling, on the assumption it renders the French chérie. The likelier source is the fortified wine, whose name comes from a place and means nothing about a person.
Where Sherry comes from
Sherry has two candidate sources and the tidier one is probably wrong. The usual gloss, darling, treats it as a spelling of the French chérie — but the name's American rise from the 1920s tracks the drink rather than the endearment. Sherry the wine is named for Jerez de la Frontera in Andalusia, which English rendered as sherris and then back-formed to sherry on the assumption that sherris was a plural. So the name most likely descends from an English mishearing of a Spanish place name, by way of a bottle. It shares its curve with Cheryl, Debra and Kathy.
Sherry in use
Sherry peaked in the United States in 1962, when 9,261 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now charts in two of the seven markets we track — 5486th in the United States on 23 births and 7189th in England and Wales — across 231,461 lifetime births. It belongs with Debra, Cathy, Peggy, Gail, Debbie, Cheryl, Rhonda and Tammy in the group of mid-century American girls' names whose declines are the steepest we record.
How popular is Sherry?
In 2025, Sherry was given to 23 babies in the United States. It is a rare choice.
Where Sherry 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.
Names that peaked alongside Sherry
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Sherry also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Sherry over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
Sherry 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 Sherry
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Sherry — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Sherry
What does the name Sherry mean?
Usually given as darling from the French chérie, but the likelier source is the wine, named for Jerez in Spain.
Is the name from the drink?
Probably. Its American rise from the 1920s tracks the drink rather than the French endearment.
Where does the word sherry come from?
From Jerez de la Frontera, rendered in English as sherris and back-formed to sherry on the assumption it was a plural.
How popular is Sherry?
5486th in the United States on 23 births.
Is Sherry a girl's or a boy's name?
Sherry is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Sherry?
Sherry has 2 syllables.
Is Sherry a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Sherry currently ranks #5,486 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.