Starlet
Feminine · “a little star”
Starlet is a Hollywood word. The film industry coined it in the 1920s for a young actress under contract and being groomed for something bigger — a small star, with the -let ending English uses for a booklet, a piglet, a rivulet. American parents began giving it as a name almost immediately, which says a good deal about what the movies meant then.
How old is the name Starlet?
Starlet first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Starlet alive today was born around 1972, making them about 53 years old. About 1,000 people named Starlet are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Starlet most popular?
Starlet peaked in 1957, reaching #2067 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 11,141 places below that high. See the whole 1957 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From star to Starlet
The story of Starlet
The studio system built careers deliberately, and a starlet was a young woman under contract whose name the publicity department was working on. The word is a period piece in itself. American records carry the name from 1941 and it peaked in 1957, which is precisely the height of the system it describes — parents naming daughters after an industry's own vocabulary for aspiration. That is not a common thing for a name to do, and it makes this one an unusually precise historical marker.
Meaning
a little star
From star and the diminutive -let, which English borrowed from French and uses to make small versions of things. The film sense arrived in the 1920s and is now the only one anyone means, though the word could describe an actual small star and occasionally did.
How the name formed
- star
- starlet
- Starlet
Pronouncing Starlet
STAR-let
Two syllables, stress on the first, said exactly as the ordinary word is said. Nobody hesitates over it.
Nicknames for Starlet
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
- 1941
- Most girls named
- 196327 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2067reached in 1957
- Change vs 2023
- −50.0%6 in 2025, from 12
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.
Starlets among us
people named Starlet are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Starlet
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Starlet
- #13208
- Starlet on the 2025 chart
- #948
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Starlet went to 6 girls in 2025, but Starlett is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 12, which makes it the 948th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,260 places above the chart.
- Starlet6
- Starlett6
About 1 girl in 133,939 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Starlet 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 Dartha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Starlet's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Dartha climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Dartha's path sketches the road Starlet is walking now.
Starlet 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
Starlet beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Starlet in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Everyone can say it and spell it after hearing it once.
- Star and Lettie are both available and belong to different worlds.
- The word's origin is precisely datable, which very few names manage.
- The word describes an aspiring actress and carries a whole set of assumptions with it.
- It belongs precisely to the studio era and dates a woman's name to those decades.
- The -let ending means small, which is a diminutive a person carries for life.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Starlet to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Starlet
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Starlets are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Starlet are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Starlet?
- Starlet is the most-used spelling in US records — 6 of the 12 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Starlett.
- How popular is the name Starlet in 2025?
- Starlet ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Starlet?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Starlet — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Starlet with classmates?
- Starlet will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Starlet
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Jossie#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Starlet? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Starlet and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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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