Sterlin
A name with English origins meaning "related to or derived from sterling, a superior quality/standard".
Name Census estimates that about 581 living Americans carry the first name Sterlin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Sterlin today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sterlin births was 1993 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sterlin. 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.
People living today
581
~ 1 in 589,939 Americans
Peak year
1993
20 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,176
Tracked since 1916
Census
Sterlin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 595 people with the first name Sterlin, which placed it at #18,189 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
#18,189
National first-name rank
People counted
595
595 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
51.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sterlin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sterlin is Black at 51.3%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Sterlin 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 Sterlin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American51.3% · 305
- White32.4% · 193
- Hispanic or Latino8.6% · 51
- Two or more races3.5% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.2% · 19
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.0% · 6
Popularity
Sterlin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sterlin from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 153 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sterlin 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 Sterlin 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 Sterlin
The name Sterlin is an English variation of the Scottish surname Sterling, which is derived from the Old English word "ster" meaning "star" and the word "ling" meaning "dweller". It is believed to have originated as a descriptive name for someone who lived near a prominent star or constellation.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Sterlin can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive record of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror. The name appeared as "Sterlinge", referring to a landowner in the county of Hertfordshire.
In the 13th century, a knight named Sterlin de Chauncy was mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1230, which were financial records maintained by the Exchequer of England. This suggests that the name was used by members of the nobility during this time.
During the Renaissance period, a notable figure named Sterlin Staveley (1508-1573) was an English scholar and translator who worked on translating works from Latin and Greek into English. His translations of classical texts contributed to the spread of knowledge and ideas during the Renaissance.
In the 17th century, Sterlin Vaughan (1616-1695) was a Welsh philosopher and writer who was known for his works on natural philosophy and metaphysics. He was a member of the influential group of thinkers known as the Cambridge Platonists.
Another historical figure with the name Sterlin was Sterlin Bunbury (1756-1836), who was a British Army officer and colonial administrator. He served as the Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island from 1819 to 1824 and played a significant role in the development of the island's infrastructure and governance.
While the name Sterlin is relatively uncommon, it has been borne by individuals throughout history, reflecting its English and Scottish origins and its association with concepts of celestial bodies and nobility.
People
Sterlin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sterlin 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
Sterlin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sterlin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 581 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sterlin 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 589,939 US residents.
Is Sterlin a common name?
We classify Sterlin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 731 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sterlin most popular?
The single biggest year for Sterlin was 1993, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sterlin is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sterlin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 595 people with the name Sterlin, or 0.20 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,189 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 Sterlin 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 Sterlin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sterlin leans strongly male. 547 people counted with this name were male (91.9%), compared with 48 female bearers (8.1%). 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 Sterlin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sterlin is Black at 51.3%. The next largest groups are White (32.4%) and Hispanic (8.6%). 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 Sterlin most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Sterlin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.3% (305 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 Sterlin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sterlin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Sterlin in the SSA data are male. 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 Sterlin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sterlin 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 Sterlin 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 common is the name Sterlin?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Sterlin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.