Stephen
Masculine · “crown”
Stephen is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 864,739 boys against 2,930 girls since 1880. See Stephen as a girl name
The first Christian to be executed was killed by a crowd, and the young man minding their coats went on to write a quarter of the New Testament. That detail — the coats at the feet of a man named Saul — is in the text, and it is the hinge on which the whole book turns.
How old is the name Stephen?
Stephen was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Stephen alive today was born around 1963, making them about 62 years old. About 660,000 people named Stephen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Stephen most popular?
Stephen peaked in 1949, reaching #19 nationally. Today it ranks #383, 364 places below that high. See the whole 1949 chart.
Where it comes from
From Stephanos to Stephen
The story of Stephen
Acts describes the trial, the speech and the stoning in more detail than it gives almost anything else, and it ends with the note that the witnesses laid their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul, who approved. That man becomes Paul a chapter later. The name went into use across Christendom, gave England a king, Hungary its founder and first saint, and a great many popes. The ph and the v spellings in English divide by ancestry rather than fashion: Stephen keeps the Greek letter, Steven writes the sound. Both are old and both are standard.
Meaning
crown, wreath
The Greek word means a wreath or garland, the kind given to a victor rather than worn by a king. The name and the manner of the death have been read together for two thousand years.
How the name formed
- Stephanos
- Stephen
Related forms: Etienne · Esteban · Stefano · Istvan · Stepan · Stefan
Pronouncing Stephen
STEE-vun
Two syllables with the weight at the front. The ph is said as a v, which is unique to this name in English and catches readers out.
Nicknames for Stephen
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195122,474 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #19reached in 1949
- Change vs 2022
- −9.8%829 in 2025, from 919
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Stephen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Etienne in French — same name
- Esteban in Spanish — same name
- Stefano in Italian — same name
- Istvan in Hungarian — same name
- Stepan in Russian — transliteration
- Stefan in German — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, New York.
Stephens among us
people named Stephen are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,060 born in 2025 was named Stephen
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Billy test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Stephen's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Billy climbed just as high around 1931, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Billy's path sketches the road Stephen is walking now.
Stephen has held the top-100 across 8 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Stephen is headed
Stephen should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Stephen beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Stephen in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It has a form in every European language and is recognized across all of them.
- Steve is one of the most established short forms in English.
- The meaning is settled, short and easy to explain.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
- Steven is equally standard and will be written instead constantly.
- The ph said as a v is genuinely irregular, and readers who have not met the name will get it wrong.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
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Stephen
Masculine · #383 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Stephens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 660,000 people named Stephen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Stephen in 2025?
- Stephen ranks #383 among US boy names in 2025, with 829 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Stephen?
- About 1 in every 2,060 US boys born in 2025 was named Stephen — 829 in all.
- Will my child share the name Stephen with classmates?
- Stephen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Stephen
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Khalil#384 · Cesar#385 · Lawson#381 · Winston#381 · Ricardo#380 · Baylor#386 · Daxton#379 · Fernando#387
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Stephen? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Stephen and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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