Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Sterling?
Births per year, rank history and how many Sterlings are alive today.
Sterling (male) is a rare spelling of the boys' name Stirling in England and Wales, ranked 1197th in 2025 and given to 24 babies. This spelling of the name peaked in 2022, when 25 babies were given the name, the 1104th most popular that year. It has risen strongly over the past decade.
Across all spellings of the name, the Stirling you are most likely to meet is around 4 years old. Half of all Stirlings born in England and Wales are between 5 and 16, and there are at least 600 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's less than a 1% chance that anyone will be called Stirling - on average, only one in every 505 such rooms contains a Stirling.
How many babies are named Sterling each year?
Includes all spellings: Sterling, Stirling. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Sterling spelling rank?
Where does the Stirling spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Sterling most popular?
The most popular form of the name, Stirling, peaked in 2021, when 46 babies in England and Wales were given the name. The Sterling spelling itself peaked in 2022, with 25 babies.
How many people are called Sterling?
At least 600 people named Sterling in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Sterling?
Most living Sterlings are between 5 and 16; the most common age is about 4.
Is Sterling becoming more or less popular?
Declining: numbers have been falling in recent years.