Starr
Feminine · “star”
Starr is given to both — 9,843 girls and 324 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Starr is the ordinary English word with a second r on the end, and the second r is what makes it a name rather than a noun. The surname it comes from is medieval and was probably a shop sign — a house or an inn marked with a star, and the family who lived there.
How old is the name Starr?
Starr first appears in US birth records in 1914 — 111 years ago. The typical Starr alive today was born around 1985, making them about 40 years old. About 9,100 people named Starr are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Starr most popular?
Starr peaked in 1948, reaching #651 nationally. Today it ranks #2719, 2,068 places below that high. See the whole 1948 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From steorra to Starr
The story of Starr
Before street numbers, English houses and businesses were identified by signs, and a family living at the sign of the star could be surnamed Starr for it. The surname is recorded in England from the medieval period and reached America early. As a given name it belongs to a small group of American word-names — Star, Starr, Sunny, Sky — that are pleasant and unpretentious without ever being quite ordinary, and the doubled spelling gives it the look of a family name rather than a noun.
Meaning
star
Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra. As a surname it was given for a house or inn displaying the sign of a star, or as a personal nickname; both practices are documented. The doubled r is an English surname spelling, not a modern flourish.
How the name formed
- steorra
- sterre
- Starr
Related forms: Star · Stern · Shtern
Pronouncing Starr
STAR
One syllable. The extra r is silent in every accent — it does nothing but mark the word as a name rather than a noun.
Nicknames for Starr
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
- 1914
- Most girls named
- 1998259 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #651reached in 1948
- Change vs 2023
- −12.5%63 in 2025, from 72
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.
Starr in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Star in English — spelling variant
- Stern in German — related form
- Shtern in Yiddish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, Texas, New York.
Starrs among us
people named Starr are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 25,512 born in 2025 was named Starr
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Starr
- #2719
- Starr on the 2025 chart
- #805
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Starr went to 63 girls in 2025, but Star 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 — 1,914 places above the chart.
- Star92
- Starr63
About 1 girl in 10,369 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 25,512 for Starr 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 Neoma test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Starr's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Neoma climbed just as high around 1907, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Neoma's path sketches the road Starr is walking now.
Starr 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 Starr is headed
Starr should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Starr beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Starr in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and instantly known; there is nothing to teach anyone.
- A documented English surname rather than a recent coinage, despite reading as a plain word.
- Works as a middle name as easily as a first, which gives a family room to move.
- It is a common noun, and the associations — celebrity, sparkle — arrive before the child does.
- Star and Starr are both used, so the second r gets dropped by strangers.
- Word-names carry a strong flavor of the decade in which they were fashionable.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Starr to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Starr
Feminine · #2719 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Starrs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 9,100 people named Starr are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Starr?
- Starr is one of 2 recorded spellings. Star is the more common one — 92 births in 2025 against 63 for Starr.
- How popular is the name Starr in 2025?
- Starr ranks #2719 among US girl names in 2025, with 63 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Starr?
- About 1 in every 25,512 US girls born in 2025 was named Starr — 63 in all.
- Will my child share the name Starr with classmates?
- Starr will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Starr
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ryver#2719 · Kaliana#2719 · Morrigan#2719 · Asher#2719 · Aditi#2719 · Carley#2719 · Betsy#2719 · Emy#2719
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Starr? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Starr 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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