Stefanie
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "garland" or "crowned one".
Name Census estimates that about 34,032 living Americans carry the first name Stefanie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Stefanie today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stefanie births was 1983 (2,676 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stefanie. 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 Stefanie with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Stefanie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
34K
~ 1 in 10,072 Americans
Peak year
1983
2,676 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
1989 SSA rank
#5,404
Tracked since 1911
Census
Stefanie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 34,981 people with the first name Stefanie, which placed it at #1,144 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
#1,144
National first-name rank
People counted
35K
34,981 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
11.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stefanie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stefanie is White at 76.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.2%) and Black (4.5%). 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 Stefanie 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 Stefanie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.3% · 26,705
- Hispanic or Latino13.2% · 4,626
- Black or African American4.5% · 1,569
- Two or more races3.1% · 1,090
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 823
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 168
Gender
Gender distribution for Stefanie
Out of the 37,173 babies given the name Stefanie since 1880, 99.9% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Stefanie as a male name
- Ranked #9,062 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1983 (9 births)
Stefanie as a female name
- Ranked #5,404 in 2024
- 24 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (2,667 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stefanie appears almost entirely female. Of the 34,972 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Stefanie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stefanie from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 15,869 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stefanie 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 Stefanie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stefanies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Stefanie, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 670 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stefanie
The name Stefanie has its origins in the Greek language and culture. It is derived from the Greek word "stephanos," which means "crown" or "wreath." The name's earliest recorded use dates back to ancient Greece, where it was given as a name to honor the goddess Stephania, a minor deity associated with crowns and wreaths.
In the early Christian era, the name gained popularity as a variant of the name Stephanos, which was borne by several early Christian martyrs and saints. One of the most notable was Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who was stoned to death in Jerusalem around 33 AD. His name, derived from the same Greek root, contributed to the widespread use of Stefanie and its variations throughout Christian communities.
During the Middle Ages, the name spread across Europe, particularly in regions with strong Greek or Byzantine cultural influences. It was frequently given to children in honor of Saint Stephen, and variations like Stephanie and Stefania emerged in different languages and cultures.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Stefanie can be found in the 12th century, when it was used by the Byzantine princess Stefanie, daughter of the Emperor Manuel I Comnenus. Another notable figure was Stefanie von Hohenzollern, a 13th-century German noblewoman and the wife of Duke Rudolf IV of Austria.
Throughout history, several prominent figures have borne the name Stefanie. These include Stefanie Quintini (1600-1663), an Italian painter and poet during the Baroque period; Stefanie Felicita, Duchess of Milan (1637-1704), a German princess and regent; and Stefanie de Loperato (1720-1769), an Italian composer and harpsichordist.
In the 19th century, Stefanie Herzogin von Württemberg (1837-1917) was a German aristocrat and the wife of King Ferdinand I of Romania. Another notable figure was Stefanie Gräfin von Belgioioso (1819-1894), an Italian writer, philosopher, and activist.
During the 20th century, Stefanie Maria Elisabeth Herzogin von Brabant (1864-1945) was a notable Austrian archduchess and the mother of Emperor Charles I of Austria. Additionally, Stefanie Powers (born 1942) is an American actress known for her roles in television series like "Hart to Hart."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Stefanie
People
Stefanie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stefanie 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
Stefanie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stefanie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 34,032 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stefanie 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 10,072 US residents.
Is Stefanie a common name?
We classify Stefanie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 37,173 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stefanie most popular?
The single biggest year for Stefanie was 1983, when 2,676 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stefanie is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stefanie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 34,981 people with the name Stefanie, or 11.58 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,144 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 Stefanie 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 Stefanie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stefanie appears almost entirely female. Of the 34,972 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Stefanie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stefanie is White at 76.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.2%) and Black (4.5%). 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 Stefanie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stefanie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.3% (26,705 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 Stefanie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stefanie a female name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Stefanie in the SSA data are female. 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 Stefanie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stefanie 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 Stefanie 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 have the name Stefanie?
Find out how many people have the name Stefanie on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.