MEANING & HISTORY
What does Sheila mean?
Sheila is an Anglicized form of Irish Síle, which belongs to the Cecilia family. Cecilia goes back to the Roman family name Caecilius, historically connected with Latin caecus, blind.
Sheila’s immediate story is therefore a passage through Irish, not a separate Irish word meaning musical or heavenly. Saint Cecilia’s association with music is a cultural and religious connection; it should be distinguished from the older Roman root.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
CebuanoEtymology & source
From English Sheila, from Irish Síle, from Latin Cecilia.
a female given name from English
Wiktionary: Sheila (Cebuano) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
EnglishEtymology & source
Anglicized spelling of Irish Síle, equivalent to Caelia. Doublet of Celia.
A female given name from Irish, popular in the UK from the 1920s to the 1950s; variant forms Shelagh, Sheelagh, Sheilagh, Sheela, Sile.
Wiktionary: Sheila (English) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
SpanishEtymology & source
Unadapted borrowing from English Sheila, from Irish Síle, from Latin Cecilia.
a female given name from English [in turn from Irish], equivalent to English Sheila
Wiktionary: Sheila (Spanish) ↗ · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Sheila
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Sheila Mae Perez
Filipino diver
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Sheila Coronel
Filipino writer
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗Wikidata
6
distinct person records with an explicit given-name claim
Community-edited coverage, not a census or birth registry. Examples: Sheila Mae Perez, Sheila Coronel
PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Sheila in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Sheila
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Leila♀Night
- Shaina♀Beautiful, in the Yiddish name tradition
- Sheena♀English rendering of Gaelic Sìne, in the Jane family
- Shiela♀Creative spelling of Sheila
- Asila♀Of noble origin in the Arabic name tradition
- Dakila·Great; outstanding, as a Philippine word
- Lucila♀Spanish/Portuguese Lucilla, familiar to Lucia
- Maila♀Finnish familiar form of Maria; other accounts exist
What rhymes with Sheila?
Matches share a dictionary-supplied rhyme key in the stated language. Check the recorded reading; another language or accent can change the rhyme.
Recorded combinations with Sheila
1 source-reported compound forms include this name as a component. Each part keeps its own history.
Names in this collection
Explore combinations →Explore Sheila further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q18224611 — Sheila (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Sheila Mae Perez (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q18224611 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Sheila Coronel (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q18224611 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Sheila (Cebuano) (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name sense and separately attributed etymology; no birth-frequency claim.
- Wiktionary contributors — Sheila (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary contributors — Sheila (Spanish) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Behind the Name — Sheila (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Síle (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.
- Behind the Name — Cecilia (opens in a new tab)
Consulted account of the name’s formation, relevant root elements, or explicitly linked base name.