Stephen
- Pronunciation
- [Ste-phen]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Crown: Wreath. In The Bible Stephen Was The First Christian Martyr.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Stephen
Stephen is the traditional English spelling of the name (see separate entry on Steven for the Greek Stephanos etymology meaning "crown" or "wreath" and the Saint Stephen first-Christian-martyr anchor). The PH-spelling Stephen is the older, more traditional English form, while the Steven V-spelling is more common in modern American naming.
The two spellings (Stephen and Steven) are tracked separately by SSA and represent the same underlying Greek name. The Stephen spelling specifically reads as more traditional and slightly more British. Notable bearers include British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942–2018, the iconic British theoretical physicist whose A Brief History of Time became one of the bestselling popular-science books); American novelist Stephen King (born 1947, the prolific American horror-suspense writer whose works including The Shining, It, and The Stand have sold over 350 million copies); and American politician Stephen Douglas.
Stephen held a US top-50 boys' rank from 1942 through 1995 — over five decades of consistent American popularity, peaking around 1958 at #15. The name has receded since but remains in steady use, currently sitting in the US top 200 boys' rank. The combined Stephen-Steven family represents one of the most consistently popular American boys' name groups of the 20th century. The name's appeal is its dignified Christian classicism combined with two soft syllables. Common nicknames Steve (the dominant short form, casual and adult, shared with Steven), Stevie (warmer and youthful), and the rare Phen each carry distinct registers; international forms include Esteban (Spanish), Stefano (Italian), Stéphane (French), Stefan (German/Slavic), and the original Greek Stephanos.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Stephen
US Popularity History (1880–2025)
Annual US births named Stephen by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 1952 with 23,054 boys named Stephen (boy rank #21 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2025, ranked #383 for boys (829 US births). That's 362 places below its 1952 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Stephen Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Stephen the strongest states are New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Hampshire | #177 | 33 |
| 2 | Rhode Island | #177 | 27 |
| 3 | Pennsylvania | #203 | 595 |
| 4 | District of Columbia | #208 | 19 |
| 5 | Massachusetts | #215 | 298 |
| 6 | Delaware | #232 | 16 |
| 7 | Connecticut | #241 | 131 |
| 8 | West Virginia | #269 | 64 |
| 9 | New Jersey | #269 | 312 |
| 10 | South Carolina | #275 | 176 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Stephen in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Esteban | Crowned In Victory Variant Of Stephen. | Male | Spanish |
| Etienne | French Form Of Stephen (Crowned) | Male | French |
| Stefano | Crown Of Laurels | Male | Spanish |
| Steve | Abbreviation Of Steven And Stephen Often Used As An Independent Name. Stevie Is Also Used For Girls. | Male | English |
| Steven | Variant Of Stephen Crown: Wreath. | Male | English |
| Stevenson | Variant Of Stephen Crown: Wreath. | Male | English |
| Stevie | Abbreviation Of Steven And Stephen Often Used As An Independent Name. Stevie Is Also Used For Girls. | Male | English |
Famous People Named Stephen
7 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Stephen.
- Stephen Covey was an American author, educator, professor, keynote speaker and businessman.
- Stephen Douglas was an American politician - a U.
- Stephen Edwin King was an American author and novelist mainly known for horror, fantasy and science fiction.
- Stephen F. Lynch is a politician who has been serving as a Representative in the US House of Representatives, Massachusetts, since 2001.
- Stephen King — Novelist (1947)
- Stephen Leacock was a Canadian political scientist, teacher and writer.
- Stephen Lewis is a Canadian politician, broadcaster, diplomat and professor.
Looking for names like Stephen?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Stephen to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Stephen against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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