According to the U.S. baby name data, usage of the name Shelby increased sharply among baby girls (and moderately among baby boys) from 1989 to 1991:
| Girls named Shelby | Boys named Shelby | |
| 1992 | 9,396 [rank: 34th] | 453 [rank: 474th] |
| 1991 | 10,219† [rank: 33rd] | 524† [rank: 427th] |
| 1990 | 3,517 [rank: 100th] | 354 [rank: 525th] |
| 1989 | 1,203 [rank: 229th] | 205 [rank: 694th] |
| 1988 | 881 [rank: 284th] | 184 [rank: 691st] |
| 1987 | 898 [rank: 273rd] | 176 [rank: 686th] |
That surge of over 6,700 baby girls from 1990 to 1991 was the biggest raw-number increase of the year. (The next-biggest jump was made by Mariah.)
Here’s the popularity graph:
Usage was strongest (relatively speaking) in rural western states. In 1991, Shelby ranked 5th among baby girls in Montana, 6th in Oklahoma and Wyoming, 8th in Kansas, 11th in Nebraska, 12th in both of the Dakotas as well as Alaska, and 13th in Utah.
What made the name Shelby so trendy all of a sudden?
I think the answer is a combination of two different influences: a movie character, and a country singer.
The first influence was character Shelby Eatenton from the movie Steel Magnolias, which was released in November of 1989.
Steel Magnolias, set in small-town Louisiana, focused on a group of Southern women — two of whom were Mary Lynn “M’Lynn” Eatenton (played by Sally Field) and her adult daughter Shelby (played by Julia Roberts).
Over the course of the film, Shelby married lawyer Jackson Latcherie and — despite the medical risks posed by her type 1 diabetes — decided to have a child. The baby, a boy, was also named Jackson.
The role earned Roberts her first Academy Award nomination (for Best Supporting Actress).
Steel Magnolias (which also gave boosts to the names Jackson and Mlynn) was adapted from the 1987 stage play of the same name by Robert Harling, who wrote it just months after his sister, Susan, had died of complications from type 1 diabetes.
Harling didn’t want to use real names, so (…) Susan became Shelby, after one of his mother’s cousins. “It’s that Southern thing of using a family name as a first name,” Harling says.
The second influence was country singer Shelby Lynne, who was born in 1968 (as Shelby Lynn Moorer) and raised in Alabama.
Ten of her singles made Billboard‘s Hot Country Songs chart. The most successful, “Things Are Tough All Over” [vid], peaked at #23 in January of 1991. Several months later, at the 26th Academy of Country Music Awards, she won the title of “Top New Female Vocalist” over fellow nominees Matraca Berg and Carlene Carter.
The names Shelbylynn and Shelbylyn both debuted in 1991, but, curiously, “Shelbylynne” never popped up in the data.
In an interview she gave toward the beginning of her career, Shelby Lynne was asked about the origin of her first name, which she described as “a guy’s name.” She answered,
I don’t know. My Daddy came up with it. Driving through Shelby County, I think, at one time or another, going through Birmingham or somewhere down there. Who knows, I’m just glad I got the name. There’s not many of us.
(Alabama is one of nine U.S. states with a Shelby County. All nine of these counties were named in honor of early American soldier and politician Isaac Shelby.)
What are your thoughts on the name Shelby? Do you like it better as a boy name or as a girl name?
Sources:
- Steel Magnolias – Wikipedia
- Steel Magnolias (play) – Wikipedia
- Reed, Julia. “The Story Behind Steel Magnolias, 30 Years Later.” Garden & Gun April-May 2017.
- Shelby Lynne – Billboard
- Shelby Lynne – Wikipedia
- Shelby Lynne Interview (Nov. 1989) – Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Digital Collections
- “Nominees for 26th annual Academy of Country Music Awards.” UPI 4 Mar. 1991.
- SSA
Top image: Screenshot of the trailer for Steel Magnolias
[Latest update: May 2025]