Stirling
From Old English, literally "place of the stirrings/commotion".
Name Census estimates that about 748 living Americans carry the first name Stirling. It is a predominantly male name (91.4% of registrations). The average person named Stirling today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stirling births was 2017 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stirling. 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
748
~ 1 in 458,228 Americans
Peak year
2017
27 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,118
Tracked since 1912
Gender
Gender distribution for Stirling
Stirling leans heavily male at 91.4% of total registrations, but 78 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Stirling as a male name
- Ranked #6,118 in 2024
- 15 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (24 births)
Stirling as a female name
- Ranked #10,154 in 2024
- 10 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1996 (10 births)
Popularity
Stirling: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stirling from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 188 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Stirling remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stirling 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 Stirling during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stirlings live
Origin
Meaning and history of Stirling
The name Stirling has its roots in the Old English language and is derived from the words "styrian" meaning "to stir" or "to move about," and "ling," a suffix denoting a person or thing. The name is believed to have originated in the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th century AD.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Stirling can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and wealth in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name is mentioned as a place name, referring to the town of Stirling in Scotland, which was likely named after an individual with the name Stirling.
In the 12th century, the name Stirling appears in historical records as a surname. The earliest known bearer of the name Stirling as a given name was Sir William Stirling, a Scottish knight who lived in the late 13th century and fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence against the English.
Another notable figure with the name Stirling was Archibald Stirling, a Scottish mathematician and inventor who lived from 1694 to 1786. He is best known for his contribution to the development of the Stirling engine, a heat engine that operates by cyclic compression and expansion of air or other gases.
In the literary world, the name Stirling is associated with the Scottish writer Stirling Graham (1909-1986), who wrote several novels and short stories set in his native Scotland. His works often explored themes of rural life and the experiences of the working class.
Moving to the 20th century, Stirling Moss (1929-2020) was a renowned British racing driver who competed in Formula One from 1951 to 1961. He was considered one of the greatest drivers of his era and was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990.
Another notable figure with the name Stirling was Stirling Silliphant (1918-1996), an American screenwriter and producer who wrote for several popular television series, including "Route 66" and "The Naked City." He won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the film "In the Heat of the Night."
People
Stirling + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stirling 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
Stirling: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stirling?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 748 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stirling 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 458,228 US residents.
Is Stirling a common name?
We classify Stirling as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 906 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stirling most popular?
The single biggest year for Stirling was 2017, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stirling is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Stirling a male name?
Yes, 91.4% of people registered as Stirling 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.
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.