According to tradition, the family which originated from ancient Rhenish-German nobility, came to Sweden from Livonia during the 17th century via the Polish Major Hildebrand Staël. The family was naturalized as Swedish Nobility on the 14th of October 1652, and the family was introduced at the Swedish House of Knights on the 20th of September 1675.
Currently the family has been divided in rank and station: one side of the family was raised to baronial status (Swedish: Friherrelig) in Sweden; another, to baronial level within the Russian Empire in 1869. The family has also been introduced in the Estonian and Latvian Houses of Nobility.
Famous representatives of the house in chronological order:
Johann Stael von Holstein (died 1512), Member of the Livonian Order and Vogt of Järvamaa
Matthias Stael von Holstein (died 1649)
Jakob Staël von Holstein (1628–1679), Swedish military officer and Marshall von Livonia
Johann Staël von Holstein (1636–1703), Swedish military officer and Gutsherr in Ingria
Matthias Gustav Stael von Holstein (1666–1720), Swedish military officer
Otto Wilhelm Staël von Holstein (1668–1730), Swedish baron and military officer
Fabian Ernst Stael von Holstein (1672–1730), Swedish Lieutenant General und Provost of the Baltic Knighthoods
Jakob Axel Staël von Holstein (1680–1730), Swedish military officer
George Bogislaus Staël von Holstein (1685–1763), Swedish field marshal and governor
Johann Staël von Holstein (1698–1751)
Jakob Johann Stael von Holstein (1699–1755)
Matthias Gustav Stael von Holstein (1702–1754)
Fabian Ernst Stael von Holstein (1727–1772), Balto-German politician and head of the Baltic Knighthoods
Baron Erik Magnus Staël von Holstein (1749–1802), Swedish baron and diplomat, Ambassador to France and husband of Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817)
Corfitz Ludwig Staël von Holstein (1753–1819), Swedish military officer and diplomat
Karl Gustav Stael von Holstein (1761–1816), Russian military officer
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (1766–1817), French writer, known as Madame de Staël, née Necker
Matthias Georg Stael von Holstein (1769–1853)
Johann Alexander Staël von Holstein (1798–1868), Russian military officer
Berend Fabian Staël von Holstein (1810–1898), Russian major-general
Otto Wilhelm Staël von Holstein (1834–1902), Swedish jurist
Alexander von Staël-Holstein (1877–1937), Estonian orientalist, sinologist und indologist
Nicolas de Staël (1914–1955), French painter
Johan Staël von Holstein (born 1963), Swedish IT entrepreneur
Baron Jan Stael von Holstein (born 1939) Swedish, Professor, Tongji University, Shanghai, China.
David Yen von Staël-Holstein (born 1991)
