Records of the Court of general sessions of the peace for the county of Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1731 to 1737

Sterling : — This town previous to its incorporation was "the
Second Parish of Lancaster," and was commonly called by its
Indian name, Chocksett. It was incorporated in 1781, and one
authority says it was named from Stirling, the capitol of Stir-
lingshire, Scotland; but there is reason to doubt this. Peter
Whitney in his History of Worcester County states that it was
named in honor of Lord Stirling, and there are strong reasons
for believing this to be correct. William Alexander, known in
history only as Lord Stirling, was born in New York in 1726.
He claimed the Earldom in Scotland and spent a large fortune
in attempting to gain title to the estates of Stirling, but was
unsuccessful. In the French and Indian war he was a member
of Gen. Shirley's military family. At the breaking out of the
revolutionary war he was appointed colonel of a regiment, and
subsequently was created a Major General. He fought with
Washington at the battle of Long Island, Brandywine and Ger-
mantown. As a patriot he fills an honorable place in American
history. Considering the date of the naming of the town, 1781,
it is far more reasonable that the people desired to compliment
the Patriot, Lord Stirling, than that they had in mind this Scotch
town of Stirling. The name was originally Easterling and was
anciently given to the money brought to England by honest
Holland merchants, "Easterling money," it was called. The
word was finally shortened to Sterling, and in time became the
name of the English money. In this way the word came to
mean, "good," "money" &c.

EDIT: My post regarding Lafayette make it clear that as of 1824, the people of Sterling, Massachusetts believed their town had been named after General Sterling.