Given name
Shela
Shela is a feminine given name from Irish. It is used in Fingallian.
Original IrishSíle
Meaning & origin
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1935. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Shela through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,398
- 0 boys · 1,398 girls
- Most popular year
- 1950
- 44 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2007. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 44 in 1950. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,769 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Shela’s family of names
In Fingallian usage, Shela was borrowed from the Irish form Síle.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: across languages.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 2
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
Similar names
If you love Shela, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Shelagh
“one who is blind”
>99% girls
Sheilagh
Sheilagh is a feminine given name from Irish.
>99% girls
Glenda
“one who is good and fair”
>99% girls
Noreen
“light”
>99% girls
Cathleen
“one who is pure; virginal”
>99% girls
Lorna
“crowned with laurel; from the laurel tree”
>99% girls
Gwynn
“a handsome man; one who is fair”
>99% girls
Mona
“one who is born into the nobility” · “a jealous man”
>99% girls