Sheldon

Where Sheldon comes from

From Old English scylf (“shelf”) + dūn (“hill”) or denu (“valley”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Sheldon
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1881
    First appearance
    #706 among boys, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1932
    Sheldon Glashow born
    American theoretical physicist
  3. 1933
    Sheldon Adelson born
    American businessman
  4. 1936
    Peak, #247
    453 babies named Sheldon — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2007
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #955.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Sheldon Glashow · American theoretical physicist, born 1932
  • Sheldon Adelson · American businessman, 1933–2021
  • Sheldon Whitehouse · American lawyer and politician, born 1955
  • Sheldon Riley · Australian singer, born 1999
  • Sheldon Leonard · American actor, producer, director, and writer, 1907–1997

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.