Stepanie
A feminine name of Greek origin meaning "crown" or "garland".
Name Census estimates that about 628 living Americans carry the first name Stepanie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Stepanie today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stepanie births was 1987 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stepanie. 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.
People living today
628
~ 1 in 545,787 Americans
Peak year
1987
41 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2008 SSA rank
#17,236
Tracked since 1959
Census
Stepanie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 922 people with the first name Stepanie, which placed it at #13,189 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
#13,189
National first-name rank
People counted
922
922 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stepanie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stepanie is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.7%) and Black (10.0%). 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 Stepanie 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 Stepanie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.3% · 528
- Hispanic or Latino26.7% · 246
- Black or African American10.0% · 92
- Two or more races3.4% · 31
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 21
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 4
Popularity
Stepanie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stepanie from the 1950s through to the 2000s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 295 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
Stepanie 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 Stepanie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stepanies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Stepanie, while New York, Texas, California recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stepanie
The name Stepanie is derived from the Greek name Stephanos, which means "crown" or "garland." It has its roots in the ancient Greek language and culture, with the earliest recorded use of the name dating back to the 5th century BCE.
In ancient Greek mythology, Stephanos was a minor deity who was associated with vegetation and fertility. The name was also used to refer to the wreaths or crowns worn by victors in athletic competitions or as a symbol of honor and achievement.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Stepanie can be found in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who mentions a person named Stephanion in his writings from around 440 BCE. The name also appears in various ancient Greek texts and inscriptions from the Classical and Hellenistic periods.
During the Byzantine era, the name Stepanie became associated with Christianity, as it was adopted by several early Christian saints and martyrs. One notable example is Saint Stephanos, who was martyred in the 3rd century CE and is revered as one of the first Christian martyrs.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Stepanie or variations of it. One of the earliest recorded was Stephanos of Byzantium, a grammarian and scholar who lived in the 6th century CE and wrote a renowned geographical dictionary.
Another famous bearer of the name was Stephanos of Alexandria, a philosopher and mathematician who lived in the 7th century CE and made significant contributions to the field of geometry and the study of conic sections.
In the medieval period, Stepanie was a popular name among the French nobility. One notable figure was Étienne de Blois (1096-1154), a powerful nobleman who served as King of England for a brief period during the Anarchy, a civil war over the English succession.
During the Renaissance, Stefano Guazzo (1530-1593) was an Italian writer and courtier who authored several influential works on courtly manners and etiquette, including the famous "La Civil Conversatione" (The Civil Conversation).
In more recent times, Stephan Lochner (c. 1400-1451) was a German painter and one of the most renowned artists of the early Renaissance period, known for his intricate and detailed altarpieces and religious paintings.
People
Stepanie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stepanie 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
Stepanie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stepanie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 628 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stepanie 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 545,787 US residents.
Is Stepanie a common name?
We classify Stepanie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 676 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stepanie most popular?
The single biggest year for Stepanie was 1987, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stepanie 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 Stepanie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 922 people with the name Stepanie, or 0.31 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #13,189 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 Stepanie 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 Stepanie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stepanie appears almost entirely female. Of the 918 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Stepanie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stepanie is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.7%) and Black (10.0%). 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 Stepanie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stepanie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.3% (528 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 Stepanie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stepanie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Stepanie 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 Stepanie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stepanie 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 Stepanie 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 called Stepanie?
See how many people have the name Stepanie on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.