Stefan
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "crown" or "garland".
Name Census estimates that about 19,685 living Americans carry the first name Stefan. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Stefan today is around 34 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stefan births was 1991 (725 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stefan. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Stefan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 17,412 Americans
Peak year
1991
725 babies that year
Average age
34
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,000
Tracked since 1910
Census
Stefan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 23,395 people with the first name Stefan, which placed it at #1,448 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#1,448
National first-name rank
People counted
23K
23,395 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
7.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stefan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stefan is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Hispanic (8.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Stefan described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Stefan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.9% · 17,297
- Black or African American10.5% · 2,451
- Hispanic or Latino8.7% · 2,044
- Two or more races4.0% · 939
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 574
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 90
Gender
Gender distribution for Stefan
Out of the 21,014 babies given the name Stefan since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Stefan as a male name
- Ranked #1,000 in 2024
- 225 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1991 (719 births)
Stefan as a female name
- Ranked #12,934 in 1991
- 6 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1985 (13 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stefan appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,384 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Stefan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stefan from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 5,405 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stefan by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Stefan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stefans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 44 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Stefan, while West Virginia, Vermont, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 387 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stefan
The name Stefan has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the word "stephanos," meaning "crown" or "wreath." It is believed to have emerged during the Byzantine era, which spanned from the 4th to the 15th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Bible's New Testament, where it refers to Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He was a deacon in the early Christian church and was stoned to death for his beliefs in around 33 AD.
The name gained popularity across Europe during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions with strong Greek cultural and religious influences, such as the Balkans and parts of Eastern Europe. It was common among the nobility and aristocracy, with various rulers and princes bearing the name.
One notable figure in history with the name Stefan was Stefan Dušan, the Serbian king who ruled from 1331 to 1355. He expanded the Serbian Empire to its greatest extent and is credited with codifying Serbian laws in the Dušan's Code.
Another significant historical figure was Stefan Báthory, the Prince of Transylvania and later King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, who reigned from 1576 to 1586. He is remembered for his military victories against the Russian Empire and his efforts to modernize and strengthen the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
In the realm of literature, Stefan Zweig was an influential Austrian novelist, playwright, and biographer who lived from 1881 to 1942. His works, such as "The World of Yesterday" and "Beware of Pity," explored themes of human psychology and the impact of historical events on individuals.
In the field of science, Stefan Banach, a Polish mathematician who lived from 1892 to 1945, made significant contributions to functional analysis and measure theory. He is particularly renowned for his work on the Banach spaces and the Banach–Tarski paradox.
Another notable figure was Stefan Lochner, a German painter active in the 15th century, known for his masterpiece "The Altarpiece of the Patron Saints of Cologne," which exemplified the International Gothic style of the time.
Throughout its long history, the name Stefan has maintained its popularity across various cultures and regions, symbolizing strength, nobility, and a connection to the rich cultural and religious heritage of the Byzantine era.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Stefan
People
Stefan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stefan as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with S
Other first names starting with S with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Stefan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stefan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 19,685 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stefan going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 17,412 US residents.
Is Stefan a common name?
We classify Stefan as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,014 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stefan most popular?
The single biggest year for Stefan was 1991, when 725 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stefan is about 34 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stefan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 23,395 people with the name Stefan, or 7.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,448 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Stefan in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Stefan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stefan appears almost entirely male. Of the 23,384 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Stefan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stefan is White at 73.9%. The next largest groups are Black (10.5%) and Hispanic (8.7%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Stefan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stefan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.9% (17,297 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Stefan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stefan a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Stefan in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Stefan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stefan in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Stefan can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Stefan?
Find out how many Americans are named Stefan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.