Sheryl

Where Sheryl comes from

The dictionaries list Sheryl as a given name — a female given name originating as a coinage, variant of Cheryl and Shirley — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

Along the way
  1. 1921
    First appearance
    #4,023 among girls, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  2. 1933
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
  3. 1957
    Peak, #112
    4,133 babies named Sheryl — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1962
    Sheryl Crow born
    American musician
  5. 1968
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #172.
  6. 1969
    Sheryl Sandberg born
    American technology executive, activist, and author
In the dictionary
  • A female given name originating as a coinage, variant of Cheryl and Shirley.
Namesakes
  • Sheryl Sandberg · American technology executive, activist, and author, born 1969
  • Sheryl Crow · American musician, born 1962
  • Sheryl Lee · American actress, born 1967
  • Sheryl Swoopes · American basketball player, born 1971
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph · American actress and singer, born 1956

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.