Stephen
given name · Latin script
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
Stephen is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country, where it is the 7th most common given name. Recorded meaning: From the male personal name Stephen, ultimately from Greek Stephanos ‘crown’.
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 175(inferred from the name graph)
- NGNigeria≈1 in 556
- RORomania1 in 69as Ştefan
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Stephen itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #17 (measured from records)
- 10 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 690 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 175 (inferred from the name graph)
972,808 named Steven, 2020
of 15M given names
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
United Kingdom, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
10 other spellings are counted as the same name:
Locally spelled Stefan in DE Germany, RO Romania, BG Bulgaria and 2 more and Steven in US United States.
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
From the male personal name Stephen, ultimately from Greek Stephanos ‘crown’.
Sources 1
- Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]
Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Stephen counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #7 | 972,808as Steven | 1 in 342 | 972K | Steven | 690 |
| DE Germany | #3 | ≈540,000 est. | ≈1 in 148 | listed | Stefan | 354 |
| NG Nigeria | #63 | ≈380,000 est. | ≈1 in 556 | — | Stephen | 155 |
| GB United Kingdom | #5 | ≈380,000 est. | ≈1 in 175 | 28K | Stephen | 438 |
| RO Romania | #144 | 309,900as Ştefan | 1 in 69 | 310K | Stefan | 103 |
| SE Sweden | #23 | 72,629as Stefan | 1 in 140 | 73K | Stefan | 188 |
| AT Austria | #3 | ≈60,000 est. | ≈1 in 147 | 31K | Stefan | 210 |
| BG Bulgaria | #8 | 50,950as Стефан | 1 in 137 | 51K | Stefan | 160 |
972,808 people counted by Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex, 2020. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Surnames of England and Wales (taliesin-arlein.net, Sept 2002 electoral register); DEPABD — name-day population snapshot; NSI — most common given names (population); Statistik Austria — STATatlas Vornamen WFS (per-name time series 1984–2024); Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Stephen is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
The name Stephen is of Greek origin, meaning "crown" or "garland". It is a classic and influential biblical name, associated with Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who is remembered for his great faith, courage, and forgiveness. The name suggests qualities of honor, leadership, and dignity.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
The name Stephen originates from the Greek name Στέφανος (Stéphanos), which means "crown" or "wreath". This is often interpreted symbolically as the "crown of victory" or the martyr's crown he received in heaven.
as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database
In English, from Greek Stephanos 'crown'; first attested Stefanus 1066 DB
as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames
Usual English spelling of the name of the first Christian martyr (Acts 6-7), whose feast is accordingly celebrated next after Christ’s own (26 December). His name is derived from the Greek word stephanos ‘garland’, ‘crown’. Variants: Steven, Stephan. Short form: Steve. Pet form: Stevie.
as a nameA concise dictionary of first names
In English, The first Christian martyr.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Stephen IVb. 770ITpope
- Stephen Craneb. 1871USAmerican novelist, short story writer, poet, and journalist
- Burt Lancasterb. 1913USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (1913–1994)
- Stephen Breyerb. 1938USUS Supreme Court justice from 1994 to 2022
- Stephen Jay Gouldb. 1941USAmerican biologist and historian of science (1941–2002)
- Stephen Hawkingb. 1942GBBritish theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author (1942–2018)
- Steve Martinb. 1945USnot in their usual nameAmerican comedian, actor, musician and writer (born 1945)
- Yusuf Islamb. 1948GBnot in their usual nameBritish musician (born 1948)
- Stephen Harperb. 1959CA22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015
- Steve Irwinb. 1962AUnot in their usual nameAustralian zookeeper, conservationist and TV personality (1962-2006)
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 127 sources across 67 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 665K | #56 |
| SE Sweden | Skatteverket — Sök hur många som har ett visst namn (living population) | — | 1.2K | #1,474 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 2025 | 829 | — |
| SE Sweden | SCB — Namnstatistik (to 2023) | 2020 | 717 | — |
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 704 | #56 |
| AT Austria | Statistik Austria — STATatlas Vornamen WFS (per-name time series 1984–2024) | 2021 | 25 | #1,211 |
Reference works 8
- The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Nişanyan Adlar (Turkish given-name national-registry frequency)
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
- Rymut, Słownik nazwisk współcześnie w Polsce używanych (10 vols, IJP PAN, Kraków 1992–1994) — every Polish surname in the PESEL register at the end of 1990, with bearer counts nationally and per voivodeship1990
- Ethiopian name tokens (GitHub lehagere/ethiopian-names, 40/60 condominium list)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What are other forms of the name Stephen?
- In the etymology graph, Steven, Steve and Esteban are forms of the same name in other languages.
- What does the name Stephen mean, and where does it come from?
- From the male personal name Stephen, ultimately from Greek Stephanos ‘crown’. Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
- Is Stephen a male or female name?
- Stephen is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.
- In which country does Stephen have the most bearers?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 973 thousand people named Steven, more than in any other country we hold.
- How common is the name Stephen?
- In the United States, the national register counted 972,808 people named Steven in 2020, about 1 in 342 residents.
- How common is Stephen compared with other names?
- In the United States, Stephen is the 7th most common given name of 2,815,431 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Stephen?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/stephenThe same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), and bulk access is licensed separately.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Stephen” — the 7th most common given name in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.