Given name & surname · also Russian
Stalin
“steel”
Stalin is a surname from Russian, ultimately from Proto-Germanic. It is used in English, Italian, and Czech.
Original RussianСталин
Meaning & origin
What it means
Stalin goes back to German Stahl, meaning “steel.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Stalin comes from Russian, and ultimately from Proto-Germanic.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In English usage, Stalin as a surname developed from STAHL.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1971. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Stalin through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 109
- 109 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1996
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 6 in 2020. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 9 in 1996. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 623 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Stalin’s family of names
In English usage, Stalin as a surname developed from the German form STAHL. In Spanish usage, Stalin has a conventional equivalent in the Russian form Сталин. In English usage, Stalin as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the Portuguese form ESTALINE.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Stalin has relatives in 47 languages. Lines run from its Proto-Germanic roots to each of them.
42 related names in 47 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 3
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 40
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Ста́линRussian, Bulgarian
- EstalinePortuguese
- 斯大林Chinese, Mandarin
- Sta-linVietnamese
- Xta LinVietnamese
- Xít Ta LinVietnamese
- استالنUrdu
- Ста́лінUkrainian, Belarusian
Show 32 moreShow fewer
- สตาลินThai
- స్టాలిన్Telugu
- ஸ்டாலின்Tamil
- StaljinSerbo-Croatian
- СтаљинSerbo-Croatian
- स्टालिनSanskrit, Nepali
- استالینPersian
- ᠰᠲ᠋ᠠᠯᠢᠨMongolian
- സ്റ്റാലിൻMalayalam
- StalinasLithuanian
- StaļinsLatvian
- ສະຕາລິນlo
- 쓰딸린Korean
- 스탈린Korean
- ស្តាលីនKhmer
- ಸ್ಟಾಲಿನ್Kannada
- スターリンJapanese
- StailínIrish
- StalínIcelandic
- SztálinHungarian
- סטאליןHebrew
- ΣτάλινGreek
- სტალინიGeorgian
- StalineFrench
- 史太林Cantonese
- စတာလင်Burmese
- ՍտալինArmenian
- سْتَالِينArabic
- StaliniAlbanian
- Stahlroot · German
- סטאַליןYiddish
- СталінUkrainian
People named Stalin
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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