Shirley f, formerly m
English: transferred use of the surname, which is a local name from any of the various places (in the West Midlands, Derbyshire, Hampshire, and Surrey) named in Old English from the elements scīr county, shire or scīr bright + lēah wood or clearing. It was given by Charlotte Brontë to the heroine of her novel Shirley (1849). According to the novel, her parents had selected the name in prospect of a male child and used it regardless. Shirley had earlier been used as a male name (Charlotte Brontë refers to it as a ‘masculine cognomen’), but this literary influence fixed it firmly as a female name. It was strongly reinforced during the 1930s and 1940s by the popularity of the child film star Shirley Temple (b. 1928).
Variant: Shirlee (rare).
First names dictionary. 2012.