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Shirley

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Shirley¹

  • /ˈʃɜː(ɹ)li/

Sounds like surely (some dialects) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)li

Where it comes from

English place name from Old English sċīr (“county”) + lēah (“meadow”). Equivalent to shire + -ley (“lea”). More at shire, leigh.

proper noun Sherley · Shurley

  1. An English habitational surname Hold vp they head, vile Scot, or thou art like / Neuer to hold it vp againe! the spirits / Of valiant Sherley, Stafford, Blunt, are in my Armes;
  2. rare A male given name transferred from the surname. Shirley Blythe was with Una Meredith and both were rather silent because such was their nature. Shirley was a lad of sixteen, sedate, sensible, thoughtful, full of a quiet humour.
  3. A female given name transferred from the surname, popular from the 1920s to the 1950s. Shirley Keeldar (she had no christian name but Shirley: her parents, who had wished to have a son, finding that, after eight years of marriage, Providence had granted them only a daughter, bestowed on her the same masculine family cognomen they would have bestowed on a boy, if with a boy they had be
  4. A village and civil parish in Derbyshire Dales district, Derbyshire (OS grid ref SK2141).
  5. A suburb of the borough of Croydon, Greater London (OS grid ref TQ3565).
  6. A hamlet in Sopley parish, New Forest district, Hampshire (OS grid ref SZ1798).
  7. A suburb of Southampton, Hampshire (OS grid ref SU4013).
  8. A suburban town in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, historically in Warwickshire (OS grid ref SP1278).
  9. A town in Van Buren County, Arkansas.
  10. An unincorporated community in Kings County, California.
  11. An unincorporated community in El Paso County, Colorado.
  12. An unincorporated community in McLean County, Illinois.
  13. A town in Hancock County and Henry County, Indiana.
  14. A town in Piscataquis County, Maine.
  15. A town and census-designated place in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
  16. An unincorporated community in Polk County, Minnesota.
  17. An unincorporated community in Washington County, Missouri.
  18. A hamlet and census-designated place in Suffolk County, New York.
  19. A hamlet in Erie County, New York.
  20. An unincorporated community in Charles City County, Virginia.
  21. An unincorporated community in Tyler County, West Virginia.
  22. An unincorporated community in Brown County, Wisconsin.
  23. A suburb of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Shirley²

  • /ˈʃɜː(ɹ)li/

Sounds like surely (some dialects) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)li

Where it comes from

A pun on surely and the name Shirley; probably inspired by the 1980 comedy film Airplane!, which has the exchange: "Surely you can’t be serious." "I am serious — and don’t call me Shirley."

adverb

  1. humorous, informal, not comparable surely Shirley the pepper mills are whipped away by the peppier after use, so no danger there. But what about the candles?

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: hsieh, xie, eustis, charlie, ann, sylvie, quirk, tse, poppies, winkel, definitely, certainly, undoubtedly, assuredly, indubitably, unquestionably

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Cite this
MLA

"Shirley." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shirley. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

Shirley. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shirley

Chicago

"Shirley." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shirley.

BibTeX
@misc{shirley_2026,
  title = {Shirley},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shirley},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}