Stearns is a

surname In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...

derived from the

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

''Stierne'', which meant severe or strict. Variations include Stearn, Sterne and

Stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

. Notable people and characters with the name include:

People

* Asahel Stearns (1774–1839), U.S. Representative from Massachusetts *

Betsey Ann Stearns Betsey Ann Stearns ( Goward; professionally known as B. A. Stearns; June 29, 1830 – February 21, 1914) was an American inventor of the long nineteenth century. She is credited with developing a "Diagram and System for Cutting Ladies' and Childre ...

(1830–1914), American inventor *

Bill Stearns William Stearns (March 20, 1853 – December 30, 1898) was an American professional baseball player who played pitcher and outfielder in the National Association from 1871 to 1875. He was the first person who had played baseball in a major leag ...

(1853–1898), professional baseball pitcher * Carl Leo Stearns (1892–1972), American astronomer * Cassius Clement Stearns (1838–1910), American composer * Charles Woodward Stearns, American writer * Charles Thomas Stearns, American politician * Charlotte Champe Stearns (1843–1929), social worker, poet and mother of T. S. Eliot *

Cheryl Stearns Cheryl Stearns (born 14 July 1955 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is an American skydiver. She won the bronze medal in Women's Overall Individual Freefall style, Style and Accuracy landing, Accuracy at the XXV World Parachuting Championships in ...

, American skydiver * Clark Daniel Stearns (1870–1944), 9th

Governor of American Samoa This is a list of Governor (United States), governors, etc. of the part of the Samoan Islands (now comprising American Samoa) under United States administration since 1900. From 1900 to 1978 governors were appointed by the Federal government o ...

Cliff Stearns Clifford Bundy Stearns Sr. (born April 16, 1941) is an American businessman and politician who was the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 1989 to 2013. He is a member of the United States Republican Party, Repub ...

(born 1941), U.S. Representative from Florida * David Stearns, American baseball executive * Eben S. Stearns (1819–1887), American educator * Foster Waterman Stearns (1881–1956), U.S. Representative from New Hampshire * Frank Stearns, close friend of Calvin Coolidge * Frank Preston Stearns (1846–1917), writer and abolitionist from Massachusetts * Frederick Kimball Stearns (1854–1924), businessman (see also

Frederick Stearns Building The Frederick Stearns Building is a manufacturing plant located at 6533 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1981. ...

) * George Luther Stearns (1809–1867), American industrialist and merchant * George McLellan Stearns (1901–1979), Canadian Member of Parliament * Glenn Stearns (born 1963), American businessman, founder of Stearns Lending * Guy Beckley Stearns (1870–1947), American physician specializing in homeopathy * Henry A. Stearns (1825–1910), Rhode Island industrialist and Lieutenant Governor * Howard Stearns, football coach for Eastern New Mexico University *

Jason Stearns Jason K. Stearns (born October 31, 1976) is an American writer who worked for ten years in the Congo, including three years during the Second Congo War. He first traveled to the Congo in 2001 to work for a local human rights organization, Héri ...

(born 1976), American writer, coordinator of a UN investigation into the wars in the Democratic Republic of the Congo * Jeff Chiba Stearns, Canadian independent animation filmmaker *

John Stearns John Hardin Stearns (August 21, 1951 – September 15, 2022), nicknamed "Bad Dude", was an American professional baseball catcher and coach in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets from 1975 to 1984 after playing a singl ...

(1951–2022), baseball player * John Stearns (physician) (1770–1848), US physician * John Goddard Stearns Jr. (1843–1917), Boston architect and co-founder of the firm Peabody & Stearns * Junius Brutus Stearns (1810–1885), American painter * Justin K. Stearns (born 1974), American academic *Justus Smith Stearns, (1845–1933), Michigan businessman * Katee Stearns, beauty queen from Orono, Maine * Marcellus Stearns (1839–1891), the 11th governor of Florida * Marshall Stearns (1908–1966), American jazz critic and musicologist * Martha Stearns Marshall, eighteenth-century Separate Baptist preacher * Michael Stearns (born 1948), American ambient musician * Nellie George Stearns (1855–1936), artist and art teacher * Onslow Stearns, American railroad builder and executive * Ozora P. Stearns (1831–1896), American politician *

Peter Stearns Peter Nathaniel Stearns (born March 3, 1936) is a professor at George Mason University, where he was provost from January 1, 2000 to July 2014. Stearns was chair of the Department of History at Carnegie Mellon University and also served as the ...

, professor of history at George Mason University *

Peyton Stearns Peyton Mckenzie Stearns (born October 8, 2001) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked by the WTA as high as No. 28 in singles, achieved on 19 May 2025, and No. 62 in doubles, achieved on 5 May 2025. She has won one WTA ...

(b. 2001), American tennis player * R. H. Stearns (1824–1909), tradesman, philanthropist, and politician from Massachusetts * Richard Stearns (disambiguation), several people * Robert Edwards Carter Stearns (1827–1909), American conchologist * Shubal Stearns (1706–1771), American evangelist and preacher * Stephen C. Stearns, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Yale University * Tim Stearns, Professor of Biology at Stanford University *

Theodore Stearns Theodore Pease Stearns (1881–1935) was an American composer. Born in Berea, Ohio, he wrote a number of operas. Of these, ''The Snowbird'' was given at the Chicago Civic Opera in 1923; this work won the Bispham Memorial Medal Award. He taught ...

(1880–1935), American composer * Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888–1965), British-American poet, essayist, publisher, playwright, literary critic and editor. * Winfrid Alden Stearns (1852–1909), American naturalist

Fictional characters

* Mike Stearns, a fictional character in ''1632''

People

Fictional characters

See also