The same-name club made up entirely of Shirleys is dying out
What started out as three women called Shirley having a cuppa became an international club with thousands of members. But now the future of the club is bleak.
Shirley Towner remembers driving around Christchurch, New Zealand, in a topless pink limousine full of women called Shirley in flamboyant clothing waving at truckies, yelling and having a hoot.
Why? Because that's what you do when you're a member of the Shirley Club.
It's a same-name club open to anyone named Shirley, with branches across Australia, New Zealand and America.
ACT Shirley Club acting coordinator Shirley Towner says the only thing members have in common is their name.
ABC News / James Tugwell
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"We've got nothing else in common except our name," Towner said.
"Somehow that's like a glue that's bonded us together and we've had an amazing time."
Group of women called Shirley meet to celebrate Shirley Club
Shirley Brown started the first Shirley Club in 1996 in Perth after she had tea with two friends called Shirley and put an advertisement in the paper inviting any other Shirleys happy to share a cuppa.
There were 62 Shirleys at the first meeting of what would become the Shirley Club.
Their motto is 'fun, food, friendship'.
Shirley Towner has loved being a member for the Shirley Club for 24 years.
ABC News / James Tugwell
A Guinness World Record
Towner said the group was all about having fun — through local monthly meetings and national and international Shirley conventions.
"We make our own entertainment up," Towner said.
The ACT club performed a Sister Act dance routine dressed in nun's habits during the 2003 Shirley Convention in Melbourne.
The finale included one habit being flung open to reveal an apron decorated like a man's hairy chest.
"It was an absolute hoot," Towner said.
About 180 Shirleys set a Guinness World Record at that same convention, Towner said, for the largest gathering of people with the same name.
The record was eclipsed in 2005 by 1096 Mohammeds in Dubai.
Shirley Towner has been to several Shirley Conventions all around the world.
ABC News / James Tugwell
Difficulty in cafes, but no need for name tags
Towner said the club always had issues ordering at restaurants and cafes, where staff asked for a name for orders.
"We tell people who we are, and they don't believe us, then they realise we're actually telling the truth," she said.
Towner once invited a so-called "non-Shirley" to a Shirley convention.
"She loved it so much, she's thinking of adding Shirley to her name so she can come to the 30th birthday next year in Perth," Towner said.
However, membership within the Shirley Club is exclusive to those bearing the name — surnames included.
Shirley Kenney from the ACT Shirley Club said that was what made the club unique.
"You can't be any old Tom, Dick or Harry," Kenney said.
She said it came with many positives.
"You don't have to remember everyone's name," she said.
"You might not have seen them in a while. It's okay.
"They're surely Shirley."
Towner and Kenney met 24 years ago when the ACT Shirley Club began and gathered again this week to celebrate the club's birthday.
Learning to love the name
Shirley Scholte heard about the Shirley Club in Western Australia and put an advertisement in her local free Canberra newspaper in 2001.
ACT Shirley Club founder Shirley Scholte never imagined the club would become as popular as it did.
ABC News / James Tugwell
That day, her phone was bombarded with Shirleys wanting to join.
And so, the ACT Shirley Club was born, with 46 Shirleys attending the first gathering.
"I never imagined it would get this big," Scholte said.
It changed Scholte's world.
"I hated the name Shirley until the Shirley Club came along. It changed my mind. Before then, I cursed my mother — seriously, what was she thinking?
"Now I love it."
ACT Shirley Club inaugural members Shirley Kenney, Shirley Cramp and Shirley Scholte.
ABC News / James Tugwell
The group reached almost 70 members at its height, meeting monthly.
It reflected an era where Shirley dominated the most popular baby name lists.
Shirley was the fourth most popular girl name in America during the 1930s, when childhood film star Shirley Temple took Hollywood by storm.
Shirley was the second most popular girl baby name in 1935 and 1936 in Australia and was among the top 100 baby names nationally until the 1960s.
Dying out
But its popularity has dropped off.
BabyCentre reports Shirley was the 2438th most popular baby name in 2024.
"It grew out of fashion and it hasn't come back like some of the other names have," Towner said.
The ACT Shirley Club used to meet monthly but now meets bi-monthly because it's becoming increasingly harder for the aging members of the Shirley Club to get out and about to the meetings.
Most members are above 70, with the oldest in their 90s.
The ACT Shirley Club has been meeting for 24 years, but its future doesn't look so bright.
ABC News / James Tugwell
National conventions held every two years became annual "because we don't know how much time we've got," Towner said.
"We're a dying club.
"We have a few Shirleys die every year and no one is calling their daughters Shirley."
The thought the club might disappear forever is devastating for Towner.
"Some of my friends are a bit jealous that I've got a same-name club," she said.
"I say they should just start one — just do what we did.
"But it would be so sad to lose it."
