Explore the Family Name Sherling

The meaning of Sherling

English (Norfolk): apparently a nickname from Middle English sherling ‘a sheep that has been shorn once; also the skin of such a sheep’. The earliest known examples of the Norfolk surname (16th century) are also spelled Shorling, which tallies with Middle English shorling ‘skin of a recently shorn sheep’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Sherling in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Sherling has seen a decline between the years 2000 and 2010. In the year 2000, the rank of this surname was 68,569, but by 2010 it had fallen to 84,136, indicating a drop of 22.7%. The count of people with the Sherling surname also decreased from 268 in 2000 to 223 in 2010, a reduction of 16.79%. Accordingly, the proportion per 100,000 people also witnessed a decline from 0.1 in 2000 to 0.08 in 2010, a change of -20%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#68,569	#84,136	-22.7%
Count	268	223	-16.79%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.08	-20%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Sherling

On the side of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census shows a noticeable shift within the Sherling family's demographics between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, almost all (96.64%) identified as White, but this dropped to 91.48% by 2010. Simultaneously, there were no recorded individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander or of two or more races in either year. Similarly, no individuals identified as American Indian and Alaskan Native. However, by 2010, some individuals started to identify themselves as Hispanic (2.24%) and Black (3.14%), which were not present in the 2000 data.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.64%	91.48%	-5.34%
Black	0%	3.14%	0%
Hispanic	0%	2.24%	0%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%