Recorded in a number of spellings including Starie, Staries, Sterrie, Sterry, Storey, Storry, and Styrroy, this is an English surname. There are several possible origins,. The first is occupational for a herdsman, the second a medieval nickname for a careless and rough person (!), and the thrid a rare early baptismal name of the pre 7th century, and if so one of the few which survived the Norman Conquest of 1066. After that date "Saxon" names tended to disappear as not being "politically correct". In all cases the name would seem to have derived from "stor or sterre", translating as "young ox". Whatever its origin it is an early surname, appearing in the list of landowners of the county of Oxford with that Johannes le Ster in the Hundred Rolls of the year 1273, whilst in 1416, Richard Sterre is recorded as being the vicar of Happesburgh, in Norfolk. Later examples taken from surviving church registers of the diocese of Greater London include: Thomas Sterrye, christened at St Peters church, Westcheap, in 1575, Thomas Starrie a christening witness at St Mary's Bermondsey, in 1555, and Ann Sterry who was baptised at St.Leonards Shoreditch, in 1636. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was often known as the Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries surnames in every country have continued to "develop," often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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