Look up Stern or stern in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Stern is a surname which can be of either German/Yiddish or English language origin, though the former case predominates.^{[citation needed]}

The English version of the surname was used as a nickname for someone who was strict, austere, harsh, or stern in character.^[1] The German/Yiddish word Stern means "star".

People

• 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
• Adolphe Stern (1848–1931), Romanian lawyer and politician
• Alan Stern (born 1957), American engineer and planetary scientist
• Albert Stern (violinist), American 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 the "Stern Gang" (Lehi)
• Avraham Stern (politician) (1935–1997), Israeli politician
• Bill Stern (1907–1971), American sports announcer in the Radio Hall of Fame
• Casey Stern (born 1978), American baseball journalist
• Clara Stern (1877–1945), German-American psychologist
• Curt Stern (1902–1981), German-born American Drosophila and human geneticist
• Daniel Stern (actor) (born 1957), American television and film actor
• Daniel Stern (psychologist) (1934–2012), American psychoanalytic theorist, specialising in infant development
• David Stern (disambiguation)
• Edna Stern (born 1977), Belgian-Israeli pianist
• Edouard Stern (1954–2005), French banker
• Elazar Stern (born 1956), Israeli general
• Elena Stern (born 1994), Swiss curler
• Eric Stern (musician) (born 1971), musician from Portland, Oregon
• Erich C. Stern (1879–1969), American lawyer and politician
• Ephraim Stern (1934–2018), Israeli archaeologist
• Frances Stern (1873–1947), American nutritionist
• 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 (1925–2022), American poet
• Gladys Bronwyn Stern (1890–1973), English writer
• Grace Mary Stern (1925–1998), American politician
• Guy Stern (1922–2023), German-American educator and writer
• Hans Stern (1922–2007), German-born Brazilian jeweler
• Harold P. Stern (1922–1977), American art historian
• Hellmut Stern (1928–2020), German violinist
• Henry Stern (disambiguation)
• Herman Stern (1887–1980), American businessman
• Hermann Stern (1878–1952), Austrian lawyer and politician
• 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
• Irving Stern (1928-2023), American politician
• Isaac Stern (1920–2001), Ukrainian-born American violinist
• Itzhak Stern (1901–1969), 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
• Jared Stern, American screenwriter
• Jean Stern (fencer) (1875–1962), French Olympic champion épée fencer
• Jean Stern (art historian) (born 1946), art historian and museum director
• Josef Stern (1797–1871), Austrian pastor and beekeeper
• Josef Luitpold Stern [de] (1886—1966), Austrian author
• Judith S. Stern (1943–2019), American nutritionist
• Julius Stern (1820–1883), German musician and educator
• Karoline Stern (1800–1887), German opera soprano
• Karl Stern (1905–1975), German-Canadian neurologist, psychiatrist, theologian and author
• Leo Stern (1862–1904), English-German cellist
• 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
• Leo Stern (historian) (1901–1982) Austrian-German political activist, historian and university rector
• Lina Stern (1878–1968), biochemist, physiologist and humanist
• Louise Stern (born 1978), American writer and artist
• Manfred Stern (1896–1954), international spy and member of the GRU, Soviet military intelligence
• 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
• Max Emanuel Stern (1811–1873), writer, poet and translator
• Melissa Stern, also known as Baby M (born 1986)
• Michael Stern (disambiguation)
• Mike Stern (born 1953), American jazz guitarist
• Mikhail Stern (1918–2005), Soviet dissident
• Milton R. Stern (1928–2011), American professor of American literature
• Miroslava Stern (1926–1955), Mexican actress of Czech origin
• Moritz Abraham Stern (1807–1894), German mathematician
• Nicholas Stern (born 1946), British economist
• Otto Stern (1888–1969), German physicist and Nobel laureate
• Paul Stern (1892–1948), Austrian diplomat and bridge player
• Philippe Stern (1895–1979), French art historian
• Richard Martin Stern (1915–2001), American novelist
• Ricki Stern, American film director, screenwriter, producer, and author
• Robert A. M. Stern (born 1939), architect
• Ronald J. Stern (born 1947), American mathematician
• Ronnie Stern (born 1967), Canadian ice hockey player
• Rudi Stern (1936–2006), American multimedia artist
• Sam Stern (born 1990), British celebrity chef
• Samuel Miklos Stern (1920–1969), Hungarian–British Orientalist
• Selma Stern (1890–1981), German historian
• Tom Stern (cinematographer) (born 1946), American cinematographer
• Tom Stern (filmmaker) (born 1965), film and television writer and director
• Vernon M. Stern (1923–2006), American entomologist
• Victor Stern (1885–1958), Austrian philosopher and politician
• Vivien Stern, Baroness Stern (born 1941), British expert on criminal justice and penal reform
• William Stern (psychologist) (1871–1938), German psychologist, inventor of the concept of IQ
• William Joseph Stern (1891—1965), British physicist
• Stern family, a prominent banking family

Fictional characters

• Ulrich Stern, in the French animated television series Code Lyoko
• Jon Stern, Daniel Holden's Justice Row attorney in the television series Rectify