Steven

972,808 people in America carry this name — ranked #27 of 923.

A name of the post-war decades.

Say it STEE vuhn

2 syllables · the capitals are the stressed part

Phonetic transcription

S T IY1 V AH0 N — ARPAbet, as published in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. The digit on a vowel marks its stress.

People counted 972,808 2020 Census
Rank #27 Very common

The meaning and origin of Steven

Greek in origin, reading literally as “crown”.

Origins are a matter of scholarly argument rather than record, and a name can be traced more than one way. We state one reading and say where it came from.

Steven name popularity by year

1,290,712 babies were given this name since 1880. The busiest year was 1956, with 38,470 of them.

81k 334k 292k 189k 179k 121k 54k

80 90 00 10 20 30 40 50s 60 70 80 90 00 10 20

Most people carrying it were born in the 1950s. It has been given less often of late.

Counted from Social Security card applications, so it covers births registered in the United States and leaves out names given to fewer than five babies in a year.

Middle names for Steven

Two syllables sit with almost anything — the join matters more than the length.

Better avoided

Steven Nicholas — runs together
Steven Stephen — rhymes
Steven Scott — same opening

Chosen by sound from the pronouncing dictionary, then ordered by how often the name is given. None of it is a rule — the ear decides.

Going quiet

Steven has more than halved in three decades. The people carrying it belong mostly to the Baby Boomers.

Is Steven a boy's or a girl's name?

99.9% men

838 women

As recorded on census returns, not as anyone thinks the name ought to be used.

Same syllables and stress as Steven

Ends on the same sound

Stephen 665,596

Same rhythm — 2 syllables, stress on the first

Matched on phonemes, not spelling, so the lists follow the ear rather than the page.

Where the name Steven is most common in the US

In Rhode Island the name is given 1.8 times as often as it is across the country.

Rhode Island ×1.8
Wisconsin ×1.4
Wyoming ×1.4
North Dakota ×1.4
Michigan ×1.4

Measured against the state's own share of births since 1960, so a small state can lead a big one. Counted from Social Security card applications.

The same name elsewhere

Tewa Esth
Stepo Ill
Stepko Ill
Stepka Russian
Stepan Russ.|Bohm
Stenka Russian
Stefan Slov.|Swiss|Pol
Istvan Hungarian
Tiennot French
Tiennon French
Stephen English
Stepica Ill
Stephan German
Steffel Bav

Forms of one name traced to the same root. Spellings are as the glossary printed them, so some look older than the versions in use today.

How to spell Steven

Steven is how 59% of them spell it — 1,662,660 people answer to the sound.

Steven 59%
Stephen 40%
Stephan 1.5%

Each spelling is its own census entry — the counts never overlap, so the shares are of the group, not of the country.

Names about as common

The nearest entries above and below by number of people.

Full names people carry

The census counts first names and surnames separately and never together, so these are estimates: how often the two halves would meet if they paired at random. They do not — names cluster by community — so read them as an order of magnitude, not a headcount.

Where this page gets its numbers

Counts, ranks and shares: U.S. Census Bureau, 2020 Census tabulations of first and last names occurring 100 or more times. Percentages, bands and groupings are our own arithmetic — the conclusions are ours, not the Bureau’s.
Pronunciation, syllables and rhyme groups: CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, Carnegie Mellon University. The plain-English respelling is ours.
Origins and the forms a name takes in other languages: Charlotte Yonge, History of Christian Names, 1884 — a public-domain work. Scholarship has moved on since, so read it as one reading of a name, not the last word.

Below a hundred people we publish no figure at all — the same threshold the Census Bureau applies to us. What each source covers
Other names of Greek origin