The baby name Shurla was an impressive one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 1961:
- 1963: unlisted
- 1962: unlisted
- 1961: 17 baby girls named Shurla [debut]
- 1960: unlisted
- 1959: unlisted
Where did it come from? I haven’t been able to figure that out yet.
The name Shirley, which had been extremely popular in the 1930s, was trending downward by the 1960s. The sound-alike names Sherla or Shirla did not see a uptick in usage in 1961. And the somewhat similar name Shirelle, though it debuted the same year (thanks to girl-group The Shirelles), is probably not the cause.
Vital records indicate that the 1961 Shurlas were born in various places in the U.S., so they weren’t clustered in a specific region. (Here are two of them: one from Missouri, the other from Maryland originally but buried in Kansas.)
Do you have any idea where this one might have come from? (News? Television?)