NameCensus.

UK surname

Stearns

Derived from an Old English place name meaning "stern" or "severe," likely referring to a stark landscape.

In the 1881 census there were 92 people recorded with the Stearns surname, ranking it #20,709 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 150, ranked #23,724, down from #20,709 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Edmonton, St Pancras and Sudbury All Saints, Sudbury St Gregory, Sudbury St Peter, Sudbury St Bartholomew. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Tunbridge Wells, Babergh and Gravesham.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Stearns is 214 in 1901. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 63.0%.

1881 census count

92

Ranked #20,709

Modern count

150

2016, ranked #23,724

Peak year

1901

214 bearers

Map years

6

1891 to 2016

Key insights

  • Stearns had 92 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #20,709 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 150 in 2016, ranked #23,724.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 214 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Spacious Rural Living.

Stearns surname distribution map

The map shows where the Stearns surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Stearns surname density by area, 2016 modern.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Stearns over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 80 #19,558
1861 historical 89 #22,419
1881 historical 92 #20,709
1891 historical 107 #22,967
1901 historical 214 #14,517
1911 historical 204 #14,784
1997 modern 182 #18,693
1998 modern 191 #18,624
1999 modern 189 #18,862
2000 modern 183 #19,239
2001 modern 177 #19,357
2002 modern 191 #18,817
2003 modern 190 #18,683
2004 modern 183 #19,251
2005 modern 171 #19,985
2006 modern 158 #21,229
2007 modern 160 #21,296
2008 modern 153 #22,132
2009 modern 148 #23,141
2010 modern 158 #22,692
2011 modern 150 #23,309
2012 modern 140 #24,376
2013 modern 148 #23,884
2014 modern 149 #23,969
2015 modern 149 #23,817
2016 modern 150 #23,724

Geography

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Where Stearns' are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Edmonton, St Pancras, Sudbury All Saints, Sudbury St Gregory, Sudbury St Peter, Sudbury St Bartholomew, Manchester and Great Waldingfield, Acton. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Tunbridge Wells, Babergh, Gravesham, Wrexham and North Somerset. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Some modern areas include a three-digit suffix, such as Leeds 110. The suffix is a small-area code, so it stays in the table while the prose uses the plain place name.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 Edmonton Middlesex (Exclusive Of London Districts)
2 St Pancras London (North Districts)
3 Sudbury All Saints, Sudbury St Gregory, Sudbury St Peter, Sudbury St Bartholomew Suffolk
4 Manchester Lancashire
5 Great Waldingfield, Acton Suffolk

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Tunbridge Wells 013 Tunbridge Wells
2 Babergh 003 Babergh
3 Gravesham 012 Gravesham
4 Wrexham 016 Wrexham
5 North Somerset 018 North Somerset

Forenames

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First names often paired with Stearns

These lists show first names that appear often with the Stearns surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Stearns

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Stearns, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Retired Professionals

Group

Spacious Rural Living

Nationally, the Stearns surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Spacious Rural Living, within Retired Professionals. This does not mean every Stearns household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

These predominantly ageing households typically have no resident dependent children. Most are owner-occupiers and live in detached houses in low density residential developments (although renting is more common than in the rest of the Supergroup). White ethnicity predominates. Residents are typically beyond retirement age but those still in work have managerial, professional or skilled trade occupations. White ethnicity and Christian religious affiliation predominate. Neighbourhoods are located throughout rural UK.

Wider pattern

Typically married but no longer with resident dependent children, these well-educated households either remain working in their managerial, professional, administrative or other skilled occupations, or are retired from them – the modal individual age is beyond normal retirement age. Underoccupied detached and semi-detached properties predominate, and unpaid care is more prevalent than reported disability. The prevalence of this Supergroup outside most urban conurbations indicates that rural lifestyles prevail, typically sustained by using two or more cars per household.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles

Group

Inner London Working Professionals

Within London, Stearns is most associated with areas classed as Inner London Working Professionals, part of Professional Employment and Family Lifecycles. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

These primarily Inner London neighbourhoods are more densely populated than the Supergroup average. Residents have a younger over-all age profile than the Supergroup as a whole, and are less likely to be owner occupiers. Full time employment is more common than elsewhere in the Supergroup and multiple car ownership is uncommon. Chinese and non-EU-born European migrants are less in evidence than elsewhere in the Supergroup.

Wider London pattern

These neighbourhoods house people of all ages, predominantly of White British or European extraction. Resident turnover is low. Religious affiliation is less common than average and tends to be Christian if expressed. Homeownership, typically of terraced houses, is common but use of the social rented sector is not. Employment is typically in professional, managerial and associate professional or technical occupations. There are few full-time students. Level 4 qualifications are common. More households lack dependent children than have them which, considered alongside low levels of crowding and over-all age structure, indicates that many households may be post child-rearing and in late middle age. Incidence of disability is low, as is residence in communal establishments.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Stearns is most concentrated in decile 7 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname near the middle of the scale.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

7
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Stearns falls in decile 8 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname towards the less deprived end of the index.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

8
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Stearns is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of 60-70 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

9
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - British

This describes the area pattern most associated with Stearns, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of Stearns

The surname Stearns is of English origin, deriving from an Old English word "stærn" meaning stern or harsh. It is believed to have originated as a nickname for someone with a stern or severe demeanor.

The name can be traced back to the 11th century, with records showing a Walter Sterne living in Nottinghamshire, England, around 1086. The Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086, mentions a family named Sterne residing in Derbyshire.

The earliest recorded spelling of the surname is found in the Pipe Rolls of Lincolnshire in 1176, where it appears as "Starn." Over time, the name evolved into various spellings, including Sterne, Stearne, and eventually Stearns.

One notable historical figure bearing the name Stearns was Isaac Stearns, born in 1601 in England. He emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630 and was among the founders of Watertown, Massachusetts. His descendants went on to play significant roles in the American Revolution and the early development of the United States.

Another prominent individual was Robert Stearns, born in 1677 in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a merchant and landowner who served as a judge and councilor in the colonial government of Massachusetts.

In the 19th century, George Luther Stearns (1809-1867) was a prominent American industrialist and abolitionist from Massachusetts. He played a crucial role in financing and supporting the anti-slavery movement, including John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry.

Other notable individuals with the surname Stearns include Alfred Stearns (1805-1886), a British-born American merchant and philanthropist, and Justus Stearns (1810-1885), a renowned American educator and author.

The surname Stearns has been associated with various place names, such as Stearns County in Minnesota, named after Charles T. Stearns, an early settler and fur trader. Additionally, the town of Stearns in Kentucky was named after Reverend John Stearns, a Baptist minister who played a significant role in the Great Awakening religious movement in the 18th century.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Stearns families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Stearns surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Suffolk leads with 44 Stearns' recorded in 1881 and an index of 40.25x.

County Total Index
Suffolk 44 40.25x
Middlesex 30 3.34x
Gloucestershire 6 3.41x
Hampshire 3 1.63x
Cambridgeshire 2 3.52x
Hertfordshire 2 3.23x
Surrey 2 0.46x
Sussex 2 1.32x
Norfolk 1 0.72x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Acton in Suffolk leads with 28 Stearns' recorded in 1881 and an index of 15555.56x.

Place Total Index
Acton 28 15555.56x
Paddington London 10 30.30x
Great Waldingfield 7 3888.89x
Long Melford 7 686.27x
Bow London 6 52.49x
Littleworth 5 2941.18x
Sunbury 5 462.96x
Teddington London 3 147.78x
Titchfield 3 215.83x
Hemel Hempstead 2 71.68x
Kensington London 2 4.01x
St Bride London 2 384.62x
Barrington 1 526.32x
Brighton 1 3.28x
Gloucester St Mary Lode 1 243.90x
Hove 1 15.06x
Lambeth 1 1.28x
Newton 1 714.29x
Penge 1 17.45x
St Edward Cambridge 1 555.56x
St Pancras London 1 1.38x
Stoke Ferry 1 476.19x
Sudbury All Sts 1 303.03x
Westminster St James 1 10.83x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Stearns surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Stearns surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Top occupations

Occupational titles are kept as recorded and later transcribed, so related jobs, spelling variants and mistakes stay separate. Scholar was the census term for a child in education. That means the other rows often tell you more about adult work in Stearns households.

FAQ

Stearns surname: questions and answers

How common was the Stearns surname in 1881?

In 1881, 92 people were recorded with the Stearns surname. That placed it at #20,709 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Stearns surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 150 in 2016. That gives Stearns a modern rank of #23,724.

What does the Stearns surname mean?

Derived from an Old English place name meaning "stern" or "severe," likely referring to a stark landscape.

What does the Stearns map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Stearns bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.