Steve
Feminine · “A crown”
Steve is given to boys far more often — 241,224 boys against 907 girls since 1880. See Steve as a boy name
Steve is one of those short forms so completely established that the full name behind it can feel like the formal version of the nickname rather than the other way round. The name underneath belongs to a crown that a country treats as a person.
How old is the name Steve?
Steve first appears in US birth records in 1912 — 113 years ago. The typical Steve alive today was born around 1960, making them about 65 years old. About 700 people named Steve are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Steve most popular?
Steve peaked in 1957, reaching #1842 nationally. See the whole 1957 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Stephanos to Steve
The story of Steve
Hungary's crown is the strangest object in European constitutional history. It is associated with the king who converted and organized the country, and over the centuries the legal theory grew that the crown itself — the physical object, with its famously bent cross — was the source of authority, so that the land belonged to the crown rather than to whoever wore it. Lawyers wrote of the crown as a legal person with rights. It was buried, smuggled, stolen, held in America for decades and returned in living memory, and it sits now in the parliament building under guard, still referred to in law. A name that means a wreath ended up attached to the only headgear in Europe with a legal personality.
Meaning
A crown — specifically a wreath
The Greek word is the wreath given to a victor rather than a metal crown, and it was the ordinary word for that object before it was a name. The first Christian martyr carried it, which is how it spread across Europe.
How the name formed
- Stephanos
- Stephen
- Steve
Related forms: Esteban · Stefano · István · Étienne · Stepan
Pronouncing Steve
STEEV
One syllable. The full name has two and the short form keeps only the first, which is the usual English pattern.
Nicknames for Steve
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
- 1912
- Most girls named
- 195735 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1842reached in 1957
- Change vs 1993
- −16.7%5 in 1998, from 6
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.
Steve in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Esteban in Spanish — related form
- Stefano in Italian — related form
- István in Hungarian — related form
- Étienne in French — related form
- Stepan in Russian — related form
Steves among us
people named Steve are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Steve sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, friendly and needs no explanation anywhere in the English-speaking world.
- A formal version is available in every European language.
- The meaning is settled and pleasant.
- It reads as a nickname, so the long form will be assumed on documents.
- The name is strongly associated with particular American decades.
- The spelling is recorded for both sexes, though the boys hold nearly all of it.
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What they receive
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Steve
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Steves are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Steve are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Steve in 2025?
- Steve is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Steve with classmates?
- Steve will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More S names
The most-given names starting with S, all years combined.
Susan#1085 · Sarah#90 · Sandra#1207 · Stephanie#557 · Sharon#1250 · Shirley#1581 · Samantha#151 · Sophia#5
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Steve? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Steve and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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