Sterling

Meaning: Possibly starling
Origin: English surname — Or a variant of the Scottish surname Stirling

Boy's name · #346 in the US (2025) · Trending

81% boys · 19% girls — Sterling is also given to girls: 218 in 2025, about 19% in recent years. Sterling →

Popularity over time

Sterling is climbing: on the charts since 1880, it is ranked #346 in 2025, with about 940 boys given the name last year. Roughly 37,000 have carried it all-time. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.

Across the states

See where Sterling is more common.

Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 44 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.

Around the world

See how Sterling ranks in other countries and regions.

#438 in Canada (2025) · #472 in New Zealand (2025) · #762 in Scotland (2025) · #1,197 in England & Wales (2025) · #1,601 in Ecuador (2025) · #6,283 in France (2025) · #2,193 in Sweden (2023) · #3,287 in Austria (2023) · #23,089 in Italy (2023).

Famous Sterlings

Sterling Hayden — American actor (1916–1986)
Sterling Knight — American actor (born 1989)
Sterling K. Brown — American actor (born 1976)
Sterling Morrison — American musician (1942–1995)
Sterling Holloway — American actor (1905–1992)

In stories & tradition

Sterling Archer — Archer (TV series)
Sterling Silversmith — Detective Comics (comics)
Sterling — Fictional car in Cars 3

What Sterlings become

Among 159 notable people named Sterling:

Sports figures appear 1.52× more often than among typical names — e.g. Sterling Brown, American basketball player (born 1995).

Similar names: Conrad · Stetson · Marshall · Clark · Simon · Stanley

Browse more boy names — popularity, trends and eras for 5,700+ American names, free.

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