Stephen

Where Stephen comes from

From Latin Stephanus, from Ancient Greek Στέφανος (Stéphanos), from στέφανος (stéphanos, “crown, wreath”), from στέφω (stéphō, “to put round, to surround”). From *stegʷʰ- (“to enlace”) + -νος (-nos, suffix forming an adjective or noun) from Proto-Indo-European *-nós (suffix forming a verbal adjective from a verb stem).
— Wiktionary's entry for Stephen
  • Ancient Greek
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #84 among boys — 176 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1942
    Stephen Hawking born
    British theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author
  3. 1947
    Stephen King born
    American novelist and writer
  4. 1951
    Peak, #19
    22,474 babies named Stephen — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1972
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #29.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Ancient Greek.
  • A female given name.
Namesakes
  • Stephen Hawking · British theoretical physicist, cosmologist and author, 1942–2018
  • Stephen King · American novelist and writer, born 1947
  • Stephen Harper · 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015, born 1959
  • Stephen Hillenburg · American marine science educator and artist, 1961–2018
  • Stephen I · Pope and Bishop of Rome from 254 to 257, 300–257

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.