COMPILED FROM THE FEDERAL REGISTERS, 1880 TO THE PRESENT
THE ENDANGERED NAMES LIST
American first names, tracked to the federal reporting line.

FROM THE REGISTER — LONG MISSING

Shirley
A male given name · United States

BELOW THE FEDERAL REPORTING LINE SINCE 1994 — 32 YEARS

Shirley (M): reported births per year0100200300400500188019001920194019601980200020202025FEDERAL REPORTING LINE (5)PEAK 435 — 1935
Reported births per year, 1880–2025. The y-axis starts at zero. Years below the reporting line appear as gaps, not zeros.

Shirley, for boys; the peak lands squarely in the Shirley Temple years. Reported from 1880 to 1993, with a peak of 435 in 1935 and 9,551 births recorded in all. Nothing since 1993 — 32 years below the line, though a name last seen this recently has had less time to come back than the older vanished stock.

REGISTER EXTRACT
First reported1880
Last reported1993
Peak1935 — 435 births
Total recorded, 1880–20259,551
Years above the line109 of a possible 146
Longest absence32 years (1994–2025, ongoing)

Nearby in the register

Dick

Long Missing · 1880–2005 · peak 1934

Bettye

Long Missing · 1883–1998 · peak 1933

Gaylord

Long Missing · 1882–1998 · peak 1931

Pat

Long Missing · 1897–1991 · peak 1941

Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national names file (1880–2025). Names below 5 occurrences in a year are not reported.

Somewhere, a grandmother is unsurprised.

A collection of THE MUSEUM OF HOPEFUL MACHINES