Given name
Shirlie
“from the bright clearing”
Shirlie is a variant of Shirley. One English interpretation is “from the bright clearing.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Shirlie is a variant of Shirley. One English interpretation is “from the bright clearing.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Shirlie 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 1911. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Shirlie 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
Shirlie through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,288
- 0 boys · 1,288 girls
- Most popular year
- 1935
- 60 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 6 in 1976. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 60 in 1935. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 519 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.
Shirlie’s family of names
Shirlie has a related form in Shirley.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Shirlie
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Shirlie, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Sherlie
“from the bright clearing”
>99% girls
Shirli
“from the bright clearing”
>99% girls
Sherle
“from the bright clearing”
>99% girls
Merrilie
“one who is lighthearted and joyful” · “filled with joy”
>99% girls
Jeraldene
“one who rules with the spear”
>99% girls
Sharyn
“rose of Sharon” · “from the plains; a flowering shrub”
>99% girls
Johanne
“God is gracious”
>99% girls
Myrna
“one who is much loved”
>99% girls