Star
Feminine · “star”
Star is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 8,275 girls against 157 boys since 1880.
Star is one of the oldest words in the Indo-European stock — steorra in Old English, aster in Greek, and the same root behind disaster, an ill-starred event.
How old is the name Star?
Star first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Star alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 7,900 people named Star are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Star most popular?
Star peaked in 1980, reaching #893 nationally. Today it ranks #2051, 1,158 places below that high. See the whole 1980 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From steorra to Star
The story of Star
Star names run through many traditions — Esther and Sitara and Estelle all mean it in their own languages — and English families began using the plain word from the nineteenth century, more often as Starr. It rose in American use in the 1970s. Star appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
star
From the Old English steorra, from a Proto-Indo-European root that also gives the Greek aster, the Latin stella and the Persian setareh. Disaster is literally 'bad star'. The word is among the most widely shared in the family and the etymology is undisputed.
How the name formed
- steorra
- star
- Star
Related forms: Starr · Stella · Setareh
Pronouncing Star
STAR
One syllable. Star and Starr are homophones; only the spelling differs.
Nicknames for Star
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1922
- Most girls named
- 1997221 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #893reached in 1980
- Change vs 2023
- −2.1%92 in 2025, from 94
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Star in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Starr in English — spelling variant
- Stella in Latin — related form
- Setareh in Persian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Stars among us
people named Star are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,470 born in 2025 was named Star
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Star
- #2051
- Star on the 2025 chart
- #805
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Star went to 92 girls in 2025, but Starr is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 155, which makes it the 805th most-given girls’ name of the year — 1,246 places above the chart.
- Star92
- Starr63
About 1 girl in 10,369 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 17,470 for Star itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Wanita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Star's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Wanita climbed just as high around 1924, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Wanita's path sketches the road Star is walking now.
Star sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Star is headed
Star should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Star beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Star in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That disaster means 'bad star' from the same root is a first-rate etymology.
- The meaning is transparent and needs no explanation anywhere.
- One syllable, clean, and never mispronounced.
- It is an ordinary English noun with a strong second meaning about fame.
- Starr is the commoner spelling as a name.
- It is period-coded to the 1970s for many Americans.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Star
Feminine · #2051 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Stars are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 7,900 people named Star are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Star?
- Star is the most-used spelling in US records — 92 of the 155 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Starr.
- How popular is the name Star in 2025?
- Star ranks #2051 among US girl names in 2025, with 92 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Star?
- About 1 in every 17,470 US girls born in 2025 was named Star — 92 in all.
- Will my child share the name Star with classmates?
- Star will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Star
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marla#2051 · Yvonne#2051 · Sade#2051 · Blythe#2051 · Ryah#2051 · Jaylynn#2051 · Amya#2051 · Marta#2051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Star? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Star and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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