Given name
Shirlee
“from the bright clearing”
Shirlee is a variant of Shirley. One English interpretation is “from the bright clearing.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Shirlee is a variant of Shirley. One English interpretation is “from the bright clearing.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Shirlee is a variant of Shirley. An origin associated with Shirley is English.
Explained through its name family
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1915. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Shirlee is a variant of Shirley. The history of Shirley gives this family its wider story. Charlotte Brontë’s Shirley gives its heroine a name her parents had chosen while expecting a boy. The novel helped establish feminine use, and the child actor Shirley Temple added another influential association in the 1930s and 1940s.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Shirlee through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 5,714
- 5 boys · 5,709 girls
- Most popular year
- 1935
- 340 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 2024. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 340 in 1935. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 3,017 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.
Shirlee’s family of names
In English usage, Shirlee has a related form in Shirley.
Inner ring: spellings · outer: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Similar names
If you love Shirlee, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Geraldine
“one who rules with the spear”
>99% girls
Blanch
“a shining, fair-skinned woman”
>99% girls
Shirlie
“from the bright clearing”
>99% girls
Zelma
“having divine protection”
>99% girls
Dora
“gift”
>99% girls
Lela
“night” · “a beauty of the night; born at nightfall”
>99% girls
Santa
“helper and defender of mankind” · “a holy man”
>99% girls
Shirli
“from the bright clearing”
>99% girls