Holding steady, #6,446 for boys today.
Popularity of Starling since 1880
Babies named Starling per year in U.S. Social Security records. Raw births topped out in 1920, but relative to how few babies were recorded back then, Starling's real moment was 1908.
Data table (by decade)
| Decade | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 0 | 29 |
| 1890s | 0 | 12 |
| 1900s | 0 | 25 |
| 1910s | 0 | 123 |
| 1920s | 0 | 155 |
| 1930s | 6 | 125 |
| 1940s | 5 | 125 |
| 1950s | 10 | 98 |
| 1960s | 5 | 52 |
| 1970s | 16 | 57 |
| 1980s | 0 | 31 |
| 1990s | 5 | 41 |
| 2000s | 29 | 37 |
| 2010s | 83 | 45 |
| 2020s | 66 | 46 |
Meaning & origin
Starling is a rare bird name that has been in occasional use since the late 1800s, first appearing in U.S. records in 1880. It reached its peak popularity in 1908, and in the most recent year it ranked #6,446, with approximately 1 in 131,390 newborns receiving the name. Its trajectory has been stable over the long term, without the dramatic spikes seen for some other nature names. As a word name tied directly to a familiar bird, Starling has a distinctive but accessible sound, fitting within the broader trend of avian-inspired names such as Wren and Lark. The name has never been strongly associated with any particular region of the United States.
Starling is an English surname transferred to given name use, derived from the Old English word "stær" meaning starling, the bird. It was occasionally used as a nickname or descriptive surname for someone thought to resemble the bird in some way, and gained modest use as a first name in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, coinciding with a fashion for nature and bird names.
Nicknames & variants
Nicknames: Star
Variants: Starlin
Sibling names for Starling
Names that share Starling's style, for a brother or sister.
