Sperling

Sperling is a surname of German origin. It is found in Germany, Austria, and among people of German heritage around the world. The name is commonly classified as a family name and may derive from a nickname, a descriptive term, or a place-based origin, reflecting various historical naming practices in German-speaking regions.

The most widely known bearer of the name is George Sperling, an American cognitive psychologist renowned for pioneering research on short-term visual memory and iconic memory. In the 1960s he conducted experiments that demonstrated the existence of brief sensory memory traces and helped establish methods such as the partial report and whole report paradigms, influencing contemporary understanding of perception and memory.

Beyond this, Sperling appears in genealogical records as a surname carried by individuals across diverse professions and regions. As with many surnames of European origin, its bearers may be found in academic, professional, and cultural contexts, reflecting the dispersion of Germanic naming lines through migration and century-spanning family histories.