Star
A name originating from English with the meaning "a celestial body that radiates light".
Name Census estimates that about 7,631 living Americans carry the first name Star. It is a predominantly female name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Star today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Star births was 1997 (221 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Star. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Star with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Star is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 148 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
7.6K
~ 1 in 44,916 Americans
Peak year
1997
221 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2023 SSA rank
#1,904
Tracked since 1919
Census
Star in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 7,867 people with the first name Star, which placed it at #2,901 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,901
National first-name rank
People counted
7.9K
7,867 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Star
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Star is White at 45.4%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (20.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Star described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Star at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.4% · 3,571
- Black or African American22.1% · 1,741
- Hispanic or Latino20.5% · 1,615
- Two or more races5.8% · 458
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 320
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.1% · 162
Gender
Gender distribution for Star
Star leans heavily female at 98.2% of total registrations, but 148 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Star as a male name
- Ranked #13,904 in 2023
- 5 male births in 2023
- Peak: 2019 (10 births)
Star as a female name
- Ranked #1,904 in 2024
- 105 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (221 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Star leans strongly female. 7,583 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 290 male bearers (3.7%).
Popularity
Star: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Star from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 1,837 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Star remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Star by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Star during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stars live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Star, while South Carolina, Oklahoma, Hawaii recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 146 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Star
The name Star originates from the Old English word "steorra," which means "celestial body." It is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "sterron," which has roots in the Proto-Indo-European word "ster," meaning "star." This name has been used since ancient times, with its earliest recorded use dating back to the 7th century AD.
In ancient mythology, stars were often personified as divine beings or celestial entities. In Greek mythology, the Pleiades were seven sisters who were transformed into stars after being pursued by the hunter Orion. In Roman mythology, the goddess Venus was associated with the morning star, also known as the planet Venus.
The name Star has been used throughout history by various cultures and civilizations. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Star Ughter, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who lived in the 9th century AD. Another notable figure was Star Anice, a 12th-century French courtier and poet.
During the Renaissance period, the name Star gained popularity among the artistic and literary circles of Europe. Star Guicciardini, an Italian Renaissance painter born in 1475, was known for her portraits of notable figures of the time. Star Pico della Mirandola, born in 1463, was an Italian Renaissance philosopher and scholar who was celebrated for his work in bringing together different philosophical and religious traditions.
In the modern era, the name Star has been associated with several famous individuals. Star Parker, born in 1956, is an American conservative political commentator and author. Star Jones, born in 1962, is an American lawyer, television personality, and former co-host of the talk show "The View." Star Parivash, born in 1985, is an Iranian-American actress known for her roles in various television series and films.
Other notable individuals with the name Star include Star Placky, an American artist and sculptor born in 1938, and Star Lager, a Norwegian singer and songwriter born in 1976.
People
Star + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Star as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Star: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Star?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,631 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Star going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 44,916 US residents.
Is Star a common name?
We classify Star as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,329 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Star most popular?
The single biggest year for Star was 1997, when 221 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Star is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Star in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 7,867 people with the name Star, or 2.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,901 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Star in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Star?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Star leans strongly female. 7,583 people counted with this name were female (96.3%), compared with 290 male bearers (3.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Star?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Star is White at 45.4%. The next largest groups are Black (22.1%) and Hispanic (20.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Star most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Star in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.4% (3,571 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Star in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Star a female name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Star in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Star still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Star in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Star can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Star?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.