Sterling
Of English origin meaning "little star" or "excellent".
Name Census estimates that about 30,937 living Americans carry the first name Sterling. It sits at #372 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly male name (91.2% of registrations). The average person named Sterling today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Sterling births was 2024 (1,098 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Sterling. 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 Sterling with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
31K
~ 1 in 11,079 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,098 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#372
Tracked since 1880
Census
Sterling in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 23,785 people with the first name Sterling, which placed it at #1,428 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
#1,428
National first-name rank
People counted
24K
23,785 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Sterling
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sterling is White at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Black (23.8%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Sterling 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 Sterling at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.2% · 14,561
- Black or African American23.8% · 5,658
- Two or more races6.3% · 1,508
- Hispanic or Latino5.7% · 1,351
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 380
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.4% · 327
Gender
Gender distribution for Sterling
Sterling leans heavily male at 91.2% of total registrations, but 3,504 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Sterling as a male name
- Ranked #372 in 2024
- 880 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (880 births)
Sterling as a female name
- Ranked #1,117 in 2024
- 218 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (218 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sterling leans strongly male. 21,469 people counted with this name were male (90.2%), compared with 2,322 female bearers (9.8%).
Popularity
Sterling: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Sterling from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 6,397 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Sterling remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Sterling 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 Sterling during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Sterlings live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Sterling, while Vermont, New Hampshire, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 651 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Sterling
The name Sterling is an English given name with its origins rooted in the Middle English word "sterlynge," which referred to a small English coin made from sterling silver. This connection to currency and precious metal suggests the name may have been associated with wealth, value, and prestige in its early usage.
The name's etymology can be traced back to the Old English word "steorling," which was derived from the Old English "steor" meaning "steer" or "bullock." This ties the name to cattle, livestock, and potentially agriculture or pastoral lifestyles in its most ancient roots.
While the name Sterling does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it gained popularity during the Middle Ages in England as a given name for boys. One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Sterling de Arderna, a 13th-century English philosopher and alchemist, who lived from around 1205 to 1283.
Another notable early bearer of the name was Sir Sterling Bunnell, an English knight who fought in the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 during the Hundred Years' War. Records show he was born around 1390 and died in 1446.
During the Renaissance period, Sterling Sill was an English playwright and poet who lived from 1521 to 1587. His works included comedies and tragedies performed on the Elizabethan stage.
In the 17th century, Sterling Moss was an English mathematician and astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of celestial mechanics. He was born in 1642 and died in 1711.
More recently, in the 20th century, Sterling Hayden was an American actor and author who appeared in numerous films and television shows. He was born in 1916 and passed away in 1986. His most notable roles included roles in classics like "The Asphalt Jungle" and "Dr. Strangelove."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Sterling
People
Sterling + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Sterling 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
Sterling: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Sterling?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 30,937 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Sterling 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 11,079 US residents.
Is Sterling a common name?
We classify Sterling as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 40,025 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Sterling most popular?
The single biggest year for Sterling was 2024, when 1,098 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Sterling is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Sterling in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 23,785 people with the name Sterling, or 7.88 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,428 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 Sterling 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 Sterling?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Sterling leans strongly male. 21,469 people counted with this name were male (90.2%), compared with 2,322 female bearers (9.8%). 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 Sterling?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Sterling is White at 61.2%. The next largest groups are Black (23.8%) and Two or More Races (6.3%). 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 Sterling most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Sterling in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.2% (14,561 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 Sterling in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Sterling a male name?
Yes, 91.2% of people registered as Sterling 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 Sterling still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Sterling 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 Sterling 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 are called Sterling?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.