Holding steady.
Popularity of Shamela since 1977
Babies named Shamela per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1989, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Shamela's real moment was 1979.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls |
|---|---|
| 1970s | 20 |
| 1980s | 75 |
| 1990s | 10 |
| 2000s | 0 |
| 2010s | 0 |
| 2020s | 0 |
Meaning & origin
Shamela is a rare modern coinage that first appeared in U.S. birth records in 1977. Its peak year was 1979, with only a handful of births recorded that year. The name never entered the top 1000 and has remained consistently uncommon since the 1970s. It belongs to a cohort of invented female names popular in African American communities during that era, often formed by combining syllables from established names with trendy endings. Shamela has not been recorded in any top state lists and its usage remains sparse. With a trajectory described as stable but at very low numbers, it is a name that carries a distinctively late-20th-century American flavor without a clear etymological root.
Shamela first appears in U.S. records in the late 1970s, suggesting it is a modern invented name. It likely formed by blending elements from existing African American names such as Shameka or Shamika with the fashionable suffix -ela (as in Pamela or Camilla). No historical or linguistic root has been identified in any language.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Sham, Mela, Shami
Variants: Shamella
Sibling names for Shamela
Names that share Shamela's style, for a brother or sister.
