Stirling
Where Stirling comes from
Borrowed from Middle Scots Stirveling, from Early Scots Strivelin, Strivelyn, likely from Old Irish sreb, srib (“stream”) + linn (“pool, lake”). Cognate with Old French Estrivelin, Middle Welsh Ystriflin.
- 2 syllables
Along the way
- 1912First appearance#2,269 among boys, 6 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
- 1942Peak, #1,86715 babies named Stirling — more than any year before or since.
- 1943The fadeThe first year with half the peak's births.
- 2010Mostly boys from hereUntil now more girls than boys got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
- A male given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
We look up famous namesakes for names that have made the top 1,000. Stirling hasn't yet.
Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.