| [ 2 syll. (s)hel-by, sh-e-lby ] The girl name Shelby is also used as a boy name, though it is far more popular for girls. It is pronounced SHEHLBiy KEY. Shelby's origin is Old Norse, and its use, English. Shelby is a form of the English Selby. Shelby is popular as a baby girl name. The name increased in popularity from the 1930s up to the 1990s; prior to that, it was of only infrequent use. At the height of its usage in 1991, 0.503% of baby girls were named Shelby. It was #33 in rank then. The baby name has seen a decline in popularity since then. In 2007, it ranked at #149 with a usage of 0.112%, but it was nevertheless the most commonly used within all girl names in its family. Although Shelby is today more frequently used for girls, there was a period prior to 1935 when more boys were given the name. After 1936, increasingly the name became more popular with girls than with boys. In 1999, 31 times more girls than boys were given the name Shelby. Baby names that sound like Shelby include the English Shelbi, the English Shelbie, the English Selby, the Scandinavian Silva, the Scandinavian Sylvi, the French Sylvie, the German and Italian Salvia, the Romanian Silvea, the English, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish Silvia, the Slavic Silvija, the English, German, Italian, and Scandinavian Sylvia, and the Romanian Silviea. KEY: Pronunciation for Shelby: SH as in "she (SH.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)" ; IY as in "eat (IY.T)"
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