Steven
Feminine · “crown”
Steven is given to boys far more often — 1,293,124 boys against 4,466 girls since 1880. See Steven as a boy name
Steven is the phonetic spelling and America preferred it. Stephen has a ph because Greek had a phi, and English has said that letter as a v in this name for centuries — so writing a v is simply recording what the mouth does. Britain kept the ph and America went both ways, which is why the two spellings now read as national.
How old is the name Steven?
Steven first appears in US birth records in 1941 — 84 years ago. The typical Steven alive today was born around 1974, making them about 51 years old. About 4,100 people named Steven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Steven most popular?
Steven peaked in 1969, reaching #965 nationally. See the whole 1969 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From stephanos to Steven
The story of Steven
The ph in Stephen represents a Greek letter that English has never pronounced as anything but an f or a v, so the spelling records an alphabet rather than a sound. Middle English wrote Steven freely; the ph was reimposed by Renaissance scholars who wanted classical spellings. America, which was settling at exactly that period and had less investment in the reimposition, kept both — and Steven is now the more common of the two here while Stephen dominates in Britain. Neither is a variant of the other; they are two spellings of one word with a four-hundred-year argument behind them.
Meaning
crown; wreath
Greek stephanos is a wreath or garland — the one placed on a victor at the games or an honored guest at a feast, not a royal crown, which Greek called something else. The verb stephein means to encircle. The derivation is not disputed. The first Christian martyr carried the name, and early writers made a good deal of the coincidence between a victor's wreath and what happened to him.
How the name formed
- stephanos
- Stephanus
- Steven
Related forms: Étienne · Stefano · Esteban · István · Stepan
Pronouncing Steven
STEE-vun
STEE-vun, two syllables, stress at the front, the second vowel reduced. Stephen is said identically in English. French Étienne and Hungarian István are the same name and share almost no sounds with it.
Nicknames for Steven
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
- 1941
- Most girls named
- 1985145 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #965reached in 1969
- Change vs 2013
- 0.0%5 in 2016, from 5
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.
Steven in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Étienne in French — same name
- Stefano in Italian — same name
- Esteban in Spanish — same name
- István in Hungarian — same name
- Stepan in Russian — same name
Stevens among us
people named Steven 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
Steven 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
- The spelling records the actual pronunciation, which the ph version does not.
- Steve is a complete working short form that needs no explanation.
- Every European language has a version, so it crosses a border without translation.
- The Greek meaning is concrete and a victor's wreath is a better image than a crown.
- Stephen is equally standard and the name will be written both ways for life.
- A very great many people carry it, so a Steven will rarely be the only one in a workplace.
- It is strongly associated with the middle of the last century and dates a person fairly closely.
- This spelling is recorded for girls too, though so rarely that a girl named Steven will be read as a boy on every form.
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What they receive
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Steven
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Stevens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,100 people named Steven are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Steven in 2025?
- Steven is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Steven with classmates?
- Steven 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 Steven? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Steven and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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