Stephenie
A feminine name derived from the Greek name Stephanos, meaning "crown" or "wreath".
Name Census estimates that about 5,122 living Americans carry the first name Stephenie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Stephenie today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stephenie births was 1974 (199 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stephenie. 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 Stephenie with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
5.1K
~ 1 in 66,918 Americans
Peak year
1974
199 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
2024 SSA rank
#17,324
Tracked since 1912
Census
Stephenie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 5,072 people with the first name Stephenie, which placed it at #3,871 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
#3,871
National first-name rank
People counted
5.1K
5,072 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stephenie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stephenie is White at 70.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Stephenie 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 Stephenie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.6% · 3,579
- Hispanic or Latino11.8% · 597
- Black or African American9.7% · 494
- Two or more races4.5% · 228
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 135
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 39
Popularity
Stephenie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stephenie from the 1910s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 1,712 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stephenie 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 Stephenie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stephenies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 31 states and territories. California, Texas, Ohio recorded the most babies named Stephenie, while South Carolina, Maryland, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 90 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stephenie
The name Stephenie has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the word "stephanos," meaning "crown" or "wreath." This name was initially used in ancient Greek culture, where it held symbolic significance as a mark of honor, victory, or achievement.
In the early days of Christianity, the name Stephenie gained prominence as a masculine form, Stephen, used to honor the first Christian martyr, Saint Stephen, who was stoned to death in Jerusalem around 33-36 AD. The name is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament, where Stephen is described as a man "full of faith and the Holy Spirit."
Over time, the name Stephenie emerged as a feminine variant of Stephen, possibly influenced by the French language, where the addition of an "e" at the end was a common practice for creating feminine forms of names. This transition likely occurred during the Middle Ages, as the name spread across Europe.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Stephenie can be found in the 12th century, when a woman named Stephenie de Longchamp was mentioned in historical records as the abbess of the Fontevraud Abbey in France from 1189 to 1208.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Stephenie. In the 16th century, Stephenie de Bourbon-Lancy (1494-1550) was a French noblewoman and a member of the House of Bourbon. In the 18th century, Stephenie Felicite, Comtesse de Genlis (1746-1830), was a French writer, educator, and member of the French aristocracy.
Moving into the 19th century, Stephenie Picken (1809-1868) was a Scottish poet and novelist, known for her works exploring the lives of working-class women in Scotland. In the early 20th century, Stephenie Fletcher (1878-1923) was an American novelist and playwright who gained recognition for her works depicting life in the American South.
More recently, Stephenie Meyer (born 1973) is a contemporary American author best known for her immensely popular Twilight series of young adult vampire-romance novels, which were later adapted into a successful film franchise.
People
Stephenie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stephenie 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
Stephenie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stephenie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 5,122 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stephenie 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 66,918 US residents.
Is Stephenie a common name?
We classify Stephenie as "Rare". It ranks above 96.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,771 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stephenie most popular?
The single biggest year for Stephenie was 1974, when 199 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stephenie is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stephenie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 5,072 people with the name Stephenie, or 1.68 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,871 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 Stephenie 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 Stephenie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stephenie appears almost entirely female. Of the 5,077 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Stephenie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stephenie is White at 70.6%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (11.8%) and Black (9.7%). 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 Stephenie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stephenie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.6% (3,579 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 Stephenie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stephenie a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Stephenie 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 Stephenie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stephenie 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 Stephenie 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 common is the name Stephenie?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Stephenie at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.