Starlet
A feminine diminutive form of "star," implying a young actress or performer of dazzling talent.
Name Census estimates that about 892 living Americans carry the first name Starlet. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Starlet today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Starlet births was 1981 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Starlet. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Starlet with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
892
~ 1 in 384,254 Americans
Peak year
1981
29 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,987
Tracked since 1941
Census
Starlet in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 822 people with the first name Starlet, which placed it at #14,360 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#14,360
National first-name rank
People counted
822
822 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Starlet
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Starlet is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (26.0%) and Hispanic (9.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Starlet described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Starlet at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.1% · 445
- Black or African American26.0% · 214
- Hispanic or Latino9.5% · 78
- Two or more races4.9% · 40
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.4% · 20
Popularity
Starlet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Starlet from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 220 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Starlet by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Starlet during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Starlets live
Origin
Meaning and history of Starlet
The name Starlet is a relatively modern coinage, originating in the early 20th century as a diminutive form of the word "star." It is believed to have been first used as a term in the entertainment industry to refer to a young, aspiring actress or performer who was considered a potential future star.
While the exact origin of the term is uncertain, it is thought to have emerged in the early decades of the 20th century, likely in the context of the burgeoning Hollywood film industry. The name itself is derived from the English word "star," which has its roots in the Old English "steorra" and the Proto-Germanic "sterron," meaning a celestial body that shines in the night sky.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the term "starlet" can be found in a 1923 article in the Los Angeles Times, which referred to a young actress as a "starlet of promise." From there, the term gained popularity and became a common way to describe up-and-coming actresses and performers who were considered to have the potential for future stardom.
Throughout the 20th century, several notable individuals were known by the name Starlet, although it was primarily used as a descriptive term rather than a given name. One early example is Starlet Marguerite Bennett, an American actress who appeared in films in the 1920s and 1930s.
Another notable figure was Starlet Lee, born in 1928, who was a dancer and actress in Hollywood during the 1940s and 1950s. She appeared in several musicals and films, including "Ziegfeld Follies" and "The Barkleys of Broadway."
In the latter half of the 20th century, the name Starlet gained some popularity as an actual given name, though it remained relatively uncommon. One example is Starlet Gayle, an American actress and model born in 1967, who appeared in several television shows and films in the 1980s and 1990s.
While not a common given name, Starlet has been used throughout history as a descriptive term for aspiring young actresses and performers, particularly in the entertainment industry. Its origins can be traced back to the early days of Hollywood and the rise of the film industry in the 20th century.
People
Starlet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Starlet as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Starlet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Starlet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 892 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Starlet going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 384,254 US residents.
Is Starlet a common name?
We classify Starlet as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,050 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Starlet most popular?
The single biggest year for Starlet was 1981, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Starlet is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Starlet in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 822 people with the name Starlet, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,360 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Starlet in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Starlet?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Starlet appears almost entirely female. Of the 815 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Starlet?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Starlet is White at 54.1%. The next largest groups are Black (26.0%) and Hispanic (9.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Starlet most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Starlet in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.1% (445 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Starlet in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Starlet a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Starlet in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Starlet still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Starlet in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Starlet can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Starlet?
Want to know how many people share the name Starlet? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.