Sheila

Meaning: Possibly heavenly
Origin: Latin — Anglicized form of Síle, the Irish form of Cecilia or Caelia

Girl's name · #2686 in the US (2025) · Retro

Popularity over time

Sheila's best rank, #50, came in 1963; it has stepped well back to #2686 today. Roughly 239,000 girls have been named Sheila since 1907.

Across the states

See where Sheila is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 7 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Sheila ranks in other countries and regions.

#592 in Ecuador (2025) · #1,759 in Switzerland (2025) · #2,203 in Sweden (2025) · #2,282 in Canada (2025) · #3,333 in England & Wales (2025) · #3,470 in Austria (2025) · #4,475 in Italy (2024) · #7,086 in France (2023) · #905 in Ireland (2022) · #771 in Poland (2020) · #536 in Slovakia (2013) · #444 in N. Ireland (2011) and 6 more.

Famous Sheilas

Sheila Dikshit — Indian politician and former chief minister of Delhi (1938–2019)
Sheila E. — American singer and percussionist (born 1957)
Sheila Hancock — English actress, singer, and author (born 1933)
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick — American politician (born 1979)
Sheila Sim — British actress (1922–2016)

In stories & tradition

Sheila Broflovski — South Park (TV series)
Sheila Carter — The Bold and the Beautiful (TV series)
Sheila Birtles — Fictional character from Coronation Street

What Sheilas become

Among 838 notable people named Sheila:

Artists & writers appear 1.26× more often than among typical names — e.g. Sheila, French pop singer and author (born 1945).

Spellings & nicknames

Together with its spelling variant Sheyla (#2350), Sheila would rank around #1493 with about 140 births last year — the newborns split about 55/45 between Sheyla and Sheila.

Similar names: Sheyla · Colleen · Sahily · Aiyla · Laurie · Deanna

Browse more girl names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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