The interesting name Shelva first appeared in the U.S. baby data for both girls and boys in 1936. In fact it was the top debut name of the year for both genders, which is very impressive. It also became the new highest-debuting girl name of all time (breaking Laquita’s record from 1930) and remained so throughout the ’40s and ’50s.
Here are the numbers:
- 1938: 163 baby girls named Shelva [rank: 533rd]
- 1937: 194 baby girls named Shelva [rank: 471st]
- 1936: 89 baby girls named Shelva [rank: 710th]
- 9 baby boys named Shelva as well
- 1935: unlisted
- 1934: unlisted
So, where did the name Shelva come from?
It took me forever to figure this one out, but the answer is that it’s a variant of the name Shelby.
Turns out that a whole bunch Shelby-like names — Shelbie, Shelba, Shelbia, Shelvie, Shelvy, Shelvey, Shelva, Shelvia, Shelda — debuted in the data (as girl names) in 1935/1936, right around the time that that Shelby — previously more of a boy name — became popular for girls:
| Girls named Shelby | Boys named Shelby | |
| 1938 | 1,713 [rank: 142nd] | 214 [rank: 386th] |
| 1937 | 1,997 [rank: 119th] | 203 [rank: 389th] |
| 1936 | 1,071 [rank: 178th] | 151 [rank: 458th] |
| 1935 | 67 [rank: 848th] | 121 [rank: 527th] |
| 1934 | 17 | 133 [rank: 500th] |
What caused the spike and the sex-change for Shelby circa 1936?
A character from movie The Woman in Red, which was released in early 1935.
The film’s protagonist, professional horsewoman Shelby Barrett (played by actress Barbara Stanwyck), was being wooed by two men before she decided to marry Johnny Wyatt, a polo player from a once-wealthy family.
Later on, without telling her husband, she accepted an invitation to go aboard the yacht of the other man — nouveau-riche equestrian Gene Fairchild — and happened to witness an accidental drowning.
She could either “remain quiet and permit [Fairchild] to be convicted of murder or, by admitting she was the mysterious woman in red who was on his yacht (however innocently) on the fatal night, clear him but risk the wreckage of her marriage.”
The movie was based on the 1932 book North Shore by Wallace Irwin. His story was also serialized in the newspapers under the title Dangerous Waters in 1933-1934.
Which name would you be more likely to use for a baby girl today: Shelby or Shelva?
Sources:
- “At the Roxy.” New York Times 23 Mar. 1935: 11.
- The Woman in Red (1935) – TCM
- The Woman in Red (1935) – Wikipedia
- SSA
Images: Screenshots of The Woman in Red
[Latest update: Feb. 2019]