Shelby.
A surname from Old English.
Meaning & usage
A surname from Old English.
A unisex given name transferred from the surname. A female given name transferred from the surname.
A unisex given name transferred from the surname. A male given name transferred from the surname.
A number of places in the United States: A census-designated place in Shelby County, Alabama.
A number of places in the United States: A census-designated place in Cedar Creek Township, Lake County, Indiana.
A number of places in the United States: A minor city in Pottawattamie County and Shelby County, Iowa.
A number of places in the United States: A village in Oceana County, Michigan.
A number of places in the United States: A city in Bolivar County, Mississippi.
A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated community in Linn County, Missouri.
A number of places in the United States: A city, the county seat of Toole County, Montana.
A number of places in the United States: A village in Polk County, Nebraska.
A number of places in the United States: A town in Orleans County, New York.
A number of places in the United States: A city, the county seat of Cleveland County, North Carolina.
A number of places in the United States: A city in Richland County, Ohio.
A number of places in the United States: An unincorporated community in Austin County, Texas.
A number of places in the United States: A town and unincorporated community therein, in La Crosse County, Wisconsin.
A number of places in the United States: A number of townships in the United States, listed under Shelby Township.
A number of places in the United States: Ellipsis of Shelby County.
Where this word comes from
From a medieval name, of obscure origin, yet likely an alteration of Middle English Selby, Salibi (“dweller of the willow place”), from salwe (“willow, sallow”) + -by (“settlement, farm”).
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.