How common is the surname Stern?

25,074 people in the United States had the surname Stern in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,313 Americans. It ranked 1,418th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Stern?

Daniel Stern, American actor, artist, director and screenwriter, followed by Howard Stern.

Where is the surname Stern most common?

Wikidata records people named Stern in the United States, Austria and Germany and 3 other countries.

Is the surname Stern getting more or less common?

More common. 24,618 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 25,074 in 2010, up 1.9%.

The surname Stern

A surname, carried by 25,074 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex S365

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Stern is more common than 99.1% of them.

Origin

* As a German and Jewish surname, from the noun Stern (“star”). This was also borrowed into various Slavic languages such as Serbo-Crotian and Slovenian. * As an English surname, from the adjective stern.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 25,074 people named Stern in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 12,313 Americans. That is up 1.9% since 2000, when the Census counted 24,618.

#1,418

rank among US surnames

25,074

people in 2010

8.5

per 100,000 Americans

+1.9%

change since 2000 (was #1,311)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,409	Zheng	25,242	12,231
#1,410	Albright	25,189	12,257
#1,411	Burgos	25,169	12,267
#1,412	Swain	25,157	12,273
#1,413	Manley	25,136	12,283
#1,414	Helton	25,118	12,292
#1,415	Song	25,110	12,296

Who is named Stern

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

94% of people named Stern identified as white (not Hispanic), 2.2% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.1% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 94%
Black (not Hispanic) 2.2%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.1%
Two or more races 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.7%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.2%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Sterns

27 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Daniel Stern
American actor, artist, director and screenwriter, born 1957
Howard Stern
American radio and television personality (born 1954)
Isaac Stern
American musician (1920–2001)
Fritz Stern
American historian (1926–2016)
Nicholas Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford
British economist and academic (born 1946)
Robert A. M. Stern
American architect (1939-2025)
Mike Stern
American jazz guitarist, born 1953
Bert Stern
American photographer (1929–2013)
Alan Stern
American planetary scientist, born 1957
Shoshannah Stern
American actress, born 1980
Jenna Stern
American actress, born 1967
Tom Stern
American cinematographer, born 1946

Notable Sterns come mostly from the United States (20), Austria (2) and Germany (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Sterne

Surnames that sound like Stern

Stern has the Soundex code S365, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code S365.

Questions

Where does the surname Stern come from?: * As a German and Jewish surname, from the noun Stern (“star”). This was also borrowed into various Slavic languages such as Serbo-Crotian and Slovenian. * As an English surname, from the adjective stern.
How common is the surname Stern?: 25,074 people in the United States had the surname Stern in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 12,313 Americans. It ranked 1,418th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Stern?: In the 2010 Census, 94% of people named Stern identified as white (not Hispanic), and 2.2% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Stern?: Daniel Stern, American actor, artist, director and screenwriter, followed by Howard Stern.
Where is the surname Stern most common?: Wikidata records people named Stern in the United States, Austria and Germany and 3 other countries.
Is the surname Stern getting more or less common?: More common. 24,618 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 25,074 in 2010, up 1.9%.
What are other spellings of Stern?: Sterne.