Stern (surname)

Stern is a surname which can be of either German/Yiddish or English language origin, though the former case predominates.

The English version of the surname was used as a nickname for someone who was strict, austere, harsh, or stern in character. The German/Yiddish word Stern means "star".

People with the family name

• Adam Stern (born 1980), Canadian major league baseball player
• Adam Stern (conductor) (born 1955), American conductor
• Adolf Stern (1835–1907), German literary historian and poet
• Adolf Stern (chess player) (1849–1907), German chess player
• Albert Stern (violinist)
• Albert Gerald Stern (1878–1966), banker and member of Landships committee
• Anatol Stern (1899–1968), Polish writer
• Andy Stern (born 1950) American president of the Service Employees International Union
• Avraham Stern (1907–1942), founder and leader of "Stern Gang" (Lehi)
• Avraham Stern (politician) (1935–97), Israeli politician
• Bill Stern (1907–1971), American sports announcer in Radio Hall of Fame
• Casey Stern (born 1978), American baseball journalist
• Curt Stern (1902–1981), German-born American Drosophila and human geneticist
• Daniel Stern, pen name of Marie d'Agoult (1805–1876), author and paramour of Franz Liszt
• Daniel Stern (actor) (born 1957), American television and film actor
• Daniel Stern (psychologist) (born 1934), American psychoanalytic theorist, specialising in infant development
• David Stern (Israeli politician) (1910–2003), Israeli politician
• David Stern (philanthropist/activist), CEO of Equal Justice Works
• David Stern (conductor) (born 1963), American conductor
• David Stern III (died 2003), newspaper manager who created Francis the Talking Mule
• David D. Stern (born 1956), German-born artist in New York
• David E. Stern (born 1961), Senior Rabbi of Jewish community in Dallas, Texas
• David H. Stern (born 1935) American-born Jewish theologian in Israel
• David Joel Stern (born 1942), Commissioner of the National Basketball Association
• David M. Stern, writer for The Wonder Years and The Simpsons and brother of actor Daniel Stern
• Edna Stern (born 1977), Belgian-Israeli pianist
• Edouard Stern (1954–2005), French banker
• Elazar Stern (born 1956), Israeli general
• Eric Stern (musician), musician from Portland, Oregon
• Erich C. Stern (1879–1969), American lawyer and politician
• Ephraim Stern (born 1934), Israeli archaeologist
• Frederick Claude Stern (1884–1967), English botanist and horticulturalist
• Fritz Stern (1926–2016), German-born American historian of German history, Jewish history and historiography
• Georges Stern (1882–1928), French jockey
• Gerald Stern (born 1925), American poet
• Gladys Bronwyn Stern (1890–1973), English writer
• Grace Mary Stern (1925-1998), American politician
• Hans Stern (1922–2007), German-born Brazilian jeweler
• Harold P. Stern (1922–1977), American art historian
• Henry Stern (born 1983), California State Senator.
• Hermann de Stern (1815–1887), German-born British banker.
• Howard Stern (born 1954), American radio and TV personality
• Howard K. Stern (born 1968), American attorney and unofficial husband of Anna Nicole Smith
• Isaac Stern (1920–2001), Ukrainian-born American violinist
• Itzhak Stern (1901–69), accountant of Oskar Schindler
• Ivo Stern (1889–1961), Croatian lawyer, writer, journalist, director and founder of the "Zagreb Radiostation" (now Croatian Radiotelevision)
• Jacques Stern (born 1949), French computer scientist and cryptologist
• Jacques Stern (politician) (1882–1949), French politician
• Jason Stern (drag racer) (born 1982), Runner-up in 2010 World Footbrake Drag Race Challenge.
• Jean Stern (1875–1962), French Olympic champion épée fencer
• Judith S. Stern, American nutritionist
• Julius Stern (1820–83), German musician and educator
• Leonard B. Stern (1923–2011), American television producer, director and writer
• Leonard J. Stern (1904–1988), American judge from Ohio
• Leonard N. Stern (born 1938), American business executive
• Leo Stern (1862–1904), English-German cellist
• Louise Stern (born 1978), American writer and artist
• Marcus Stern (journalist) (born 1953), Pulitzer Prize winning reporter
• Marcus Stern (theatre director), associate director of the American Repertory Theater
• Mario Rigoni Stern (1921–2008), Italian writer
• Melissa Stern, also known as Baby M (born 1986)
• Michael Stern (conductor) (born 1959), American musician
• Michael Stern (educator) (1922–2002), founder of the Waterford Kamhlaba United World College
• Michael Stern (journalist) (c. 1910–2009), American journalist and philanthropist
• Michael Stern (British politician) (born 1942), British Conservative Party politician
• Michael Stern (born 1947), American writer in team Jane and Michael Stern
• Michael Stern (Jamaican politician), Jamaica Labour Party politician
• Michael Stern (real estate developer) (born 1979), American real estate developer
• Mike Stern (born 1953), American jazz guitarist
• Mikhail Stern (1918–2005), Soviet dissident
• Miroslava Stern (1926–1955), Mexican actress of Czech origin
• Moritz Abraham Stern (1807–94), German mathematician
• Nicholas Stern (born 1946), British economist
• Otto Stern, German physicist and Nobel laureate, of Stern-Gerlach experiment fame
• Paul Stern, Austrian diplomat and bridge player
• Philippe Stern (1895–1979), French art historian
• Richard Martin Stern, American novelist
• Robert A. M. Stern (born 1939), architect
• Ronnie Stern (born 1967), Canadian ice hockey player
• Rudi Stern (1936–2006), American multimedia artist
• Sam Stern (born 1990), British celebrity chef
• Samson P. Stern (born 1993), Used car salesman / Director's Club
• Tom Stern (born 1965), American Film and Television writer/director/producer
• Ulrich Stern, character from Code Lyoko
• Vivien Stern (born 1941), also known as Baroness Stern, British expert on criminal justice and penal reform
• William Stern (psychologist) (1871–1938), German psychologist, inventor of the concept of IQ

Variant surnames

• Davor Štern (born 1947), former Minister of Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship in the Croatian Government, businessman and entrepreneur
• Grigori Shtern (1900–1941), Soviet military commander
• Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Jewish early modern historian and philologist

Other uses

• Jon Stern, Daniel Holden's Justice Row attorney in Rectify
• Stern family, a prominent banking family