Sheldon is an English masculine given name, as well as a surname, combining the Old English scelf (rock ledge shelf) and the place name haddon, which in turn comes from the words hǣth (heath) and dūn (hill; but also, valley).^[1] Notable people with the name include:

Given name

• Sheldon Adelson (1933–2021), American billionaire businessman
• Sheldon Bach (1925–2021), American psychologist
• Shel Bachrach (born 1944), American insurance broker, investor, businessman and philanthropist
• Shelley Berman (1925–2017), American comedian, born Sheldon
• Sheldon Blockburger (born 1964), American decathlete
• Sheldon Brookbank (born 1980), Canadian hockey player
• Sheldon Brooks (1811-1883), American businessman, physician, and politician
• Sheldon Brown (American football) (born 1979), American football player
• Sheldon Brown (artist) (born 1962), American artist and professor of computer art
• Sheldon Brown (bicycle mechanic) (1944–2008), American bicycle mechanic, writer, and webmaster
• Sheldon Burnside (born 1954), American baseball player
• Sheldon Canley (born 1968), American football player
• Sheldon S. Cohen (1927–2018), American lawyer
• Sheldon Creed (born 1997), American racing driver
• Sheldon Day (born 1994), American football player
• Sheldon Drobny (1945–2020), American investor
• Sheldon V. Ekman (1920–1982), United States Tax Court judge
• Sheldon Gaines (born 1964), American football player
• Sheldon Glashow (born 1932), American 1979 winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics
• Sheldon Harnick (1924–2023), American lyricist
• Sheldon Lejeune (1885–1962), American baseball player
• Sheldon Jackson (1834–1909), American missionary
• Sheldon Jackson (American football) (born 1976), American football player
• Sheldon Jackson (cricketer) (born 1986), Indian cricketer
• Sheldon Jones (1922–1991), American baseball player
• Sheldon Kennedy (born 1969), Canadian hockey player
• Sheldon Lavin (1932–2023), American billionaire and owner, CEO and chairman of OSI Group
• Sheldon Leonard (1907–1997), American actor
• Sheldon Mallory (born 1953), American baseball player
• Sheldon Neuse (born 1994), American baseball player
• Sheldon Price (born 1991), American football player
• Sheldon Rankins (born 1994), American football player
• Sheldon Richardson (born 1990), American football player
• Sheldon Silver (1944-2022), United States politician
• Shel Silverstein (1930–1999), American poet, songwriter, cartoonist, and children's book author
• Sheldon Souray (born 1976), Canadian hockey player
• Sheldon White (born 1965), American football player and executive
• Sheldon Whitehouse (born 1955), Democratic United States Senator from Rhode Island

Surname

• Alexander Sheldon (1766–1832), Speaker of the New York State Assembly
• A J Sheldon (1874-1931), music critic
• Benjamin R. Sheldon (1811–1897), American jurist
• Bob Sheldon (born 1950), American baseball player
• Brady Sheldon (born 1993), American football player
• Brooke E. Sheldon (1931–2013), American librarian
• Charles Sheldon (1857–1946), American Congregationalist minister
• Charles H. Sheldon (1840–1898), American politician
• Chris Sheldon (born 1962), record producer
• David Sheldon (disambiguation), various people
• Dominic Sheldon, Anglo-Irish soldier
• Donald Sheldon (1921–1975), Alaskan bush pilot
• Edward Sheldon (1886–1946), American dramatist
• Fred Sheldon (English footballer) (1871–?), English footballer for Stoke
• Fred Sheldon (Welsh footballer), Welsh footballer for Aberdare Athletic
• Frederick H. Sheldon (born 1951), American ornithologist
• Gene Sheldon (Eugene Hume) (1908–1982), American pantomime actor
• George Sheldon (preservationist) (1818–1916), American historian, judge, and politician
• George L. Sheldon (1870–1960), American politician
• Gilbert Sheldon (1598–1677), Archbishop of Canterbury and builder of the Sheldonian Theatre
• Grace Carew Sheldon (1855–1921), American journalist, author, editor, businesswoman
• Henry D. Sheldon (1874–1948), American educator
• Ingrid Sheldon (born 1945), American politician
• Jack Sheldon (1931–2019), American jazz trumpeter
• James M. Sheldon, (1880–1965), American football player
• Jane Sheldon, Australian soprano
• Jennie Maria Arms Sheldon (1852–1938), American entomologist, educator, and museum curator
• Joseph Harold Sheldon (1893–1972), English physician and gerontologist
• Lee Sheldon (writer), game developer and writer
• Lewis Sheldon (1874–1960), American triple jumper
• Lilian Sheldon (1862–1942), English zoologist
• Lionel Allen Sheldon (1828–1917), American Civil War general, politician, lawyer
• Louis P. Sheldon (1934–2020), American Presbyterian pastor and activist
• Lurana W. Sheldon (1862–1945), American writer, editor, suffragist
• Mark Sheldon, American philosopher
• Matthew Sheldon (born 1992), American soccer player
• Mike Sheldon (born 1973), American football player
• Oliver Sheldon (1894–1951), British businessman
• Robert Sheldon, Baron Sheldon (1923–2020), British politician
• Roland Sheldon (born 1936), American baseball player
• Sam Sheldon (born 1989), Australian footballer
• Scott Sheldon (born 1968), American baseball player
• Sidney Sheldon (1917–2007), American screenwriter and novelist
• Stagger Lee Sheldon (1865–1912), American murderer
• Steve Sheldon, American politician
• Wilfrid Percy Henry Sheldon, (1901–1983), English consulting physician
• William Herbert Sheldon, (1899–1977), American psychologist
• William Wallace Barbour Sheldon (1836–1915), American architect
• Wilmon Henry Sheldon (1875–1981), American philosopher

Fictional characters

• Paul Sheldon, fictional character from the novel Misery
• Sheldon Cooper, fictional character from the television series The Big Bang Theory and the prequel series Young Sheldon
• Sheldon Lee, a fictional character in My Life as a Teenage Robot
• Sheldon J. Plankton, a character in the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants
• Sheldon Mopes, protagonist of the 2002 film Death to Smoochy
• Sheldon (webcomic), a daily webcomic
• Sheldon, a seahorse in the Finding Nemo franchise
• Sheldon Hawkes, detective/doctor in CSI: NY
• Sheldon, a chick in the comic strip U.S. Acres
• Sheldon, a magical genie in the television series Sigmund and the Sea Monsters
• Sheldon, a fictional character from the game Splatoon
• Sheldon, butler at Stourton, Charles Rainier's country house in Random Harvest by James Hilton
• Shelldon, snail in the animated series of the same title
• Sheldon Dinkleberg, a fictional character from The Fairly OddParents
• Sheldon Wallace, a fictional character from Private Practice
• Sheldon, a fictional squirrel from the game Animal Crossing

Animals

• Sheldon, a chimpanzee featured in several books and documentaries