Starley
A name possibly derived from "star", suggesting brightness or celestial origins.
Name Census estimates that about 49 living Americans carry the first name Starley. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 83.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Starley today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Starley births was 1955 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Starley. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Starley. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
49
~ 1 in 6,994,986 Americans
Peak year
1955
10 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
1955 SSA rank
#4,329
Tracked since 1937
Census
Starley in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 193 people with the first name Starley, which placed it at #39,252 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
#39,252
National first-name rank
People counted
193
193 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
72.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Starley
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Starley is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.4%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Starley 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 Starley at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White72.5% · 140
- Hispanic or Latino12.4% · 24
- Black or African American8.8% · 17
- Two or more races3.1% · 6
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Starley
Starley leans heavily female at 83.3% of total registrations, but 10 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Starley as a male name
- Ranked #4,329 in 1955
- 5 male births in 1955
- Peak: 1937 (5 births)
Starley as a female name
- Ranked #10,210 in 2023
- 10 female births in 2023
- Peak: 2023 (10 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Starley on both sides of the split. Of the 191 people counted with this name, 55 were male (28.8%) and 136 were female (71.2%).
Popularity
Starley: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Starley from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 18 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Starley 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 Starley during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Starley
The name Starley is of English origin, derived from the Old English word "stær" meaning "starling" or "little star." It is believed to have emerged as a surname during the Middle Ages, referring to someone who lived near a starling's nest or had a notable connection with the bird.
In the 16th century, the name Starley began to appear as a given name, albeit rarely. One of the earliest recorded instances is a man named Starley Woodroffe, born in 1592 in Warwickshire, England. He was a minor landowner and is mentioned in local parish records.
During the 17th century, the name gained some popularity among Puritan families in England, who favored biblical and nature-inspired names. A notable bearer of the name from this time was Starley Grimshaw (1619-1687), a Puritan minister and author from Lancashire.
In the 18th century, the name Starley became associated with the cycling industry. John Kemp Starley (1854-1901) was an English inventor and industrialist who is credited with developing the modern bicycle design known as the "Rover Safety Bicycle." He founded the Starley & Sutton Co-operative Bicycle Manufacturing Company in 1879, which later became the Rover Cycle Company.
Another prominent figure bearing the name was Starley Semple (1856-1938), a Scottish-born architect who designed several notable buildings in South Africa, including the Johannesburg City Hall and the Durban City Hall.
In the 20th century, the name Starley remained relatively uncommon but had a few notable bearers. Starley Winston Groom (1944-2021) was an American novelist and author best known for his book "Forrest Gump," which was adapted into the acclaimed 1994 film of the same name.
While not a common name, Starley has left its mark on history through its connection to the cycling industry, Puritan heritage, and the arts. Its unique and celestial connotations have made it a distinctive choice for parents seeking a name with a touch of whimsy and a rich historical background.
People
Starley + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Starley 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
Starley: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Starley?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Starley 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 6,994,986 US residents.
Is Starley a common name?
We classify Starley as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 60 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Starley most popular?
The single biggest year for Starley was 1955, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Starley is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Starley in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 193 people with the name Starley, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,252 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 Starley 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 Starley?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Starley on both sides of the split. Of the 191 people counted with this name, 55 were male (28.8%) and 136 were female (71.2%). 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 Starley?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Starley is White at 72.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.4%) and Black (8.8%). 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 Starley most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Starley in the 2020 Census, accounting for 72.5% (140 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 Starley in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Starley a female name?
Yes, 83.3% of people registered as Starley 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 Starley still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Starley 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 Starley 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 people have the name Starley?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.