Gender Masculine
Meaning & History
From the Greek name , more precisely "that which surrounds" [1] [2] [3] . Saint Stephen was a deacon who was stoned to death, as told in Acts in the New Testament [4] . He is regarded as the first Christian martyr. Due to him, the name became common in the Christian world. It was popularized in England by the Normans.This was the name of kings of England, Serbia, and Poland, as well as ten popes. It was also borne by the first Christian king of Hungary (11th century), who is regarded as the patron saint of that country. More recent bearers include British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) and the American author Stephen King (1947-).
Related Names
VariantSteven (English)
Other Languages & CulturesStephon (African American) Stephanos (Ancient Greek) Stepan (Armenian) Estebe, Eztebe (Basque) Stephanos (Biblical Greek) Stephanus (Biblical Latin) Stefan (Bulgarian) Esteve (Catalan) Stefanu (Corsican) Stjepan, Stevo, Stipan, Stipe, Stipo (Croatian) Štěpán (Czech) Stefan, Steffen (Danish) Stefan, Stephan, Stef, Stefanus, Steven (Dutch) Tahvo, Tapani, Teppo (Finnish) Stefaan (Flemish) Étienne, Stéphane, Steeve, Steve (French) Estevo (Galician) Stepane (Georgian) Stefan, Steffen, Stephan (German) Stefanos, Stephanos (Greek) István, Pista, Pisti (Hungarian) Stefán (Icelandic) Stiofán, Steafán (Irish) Stefano (Italian) Stefans (Latvian) Stephano (Literature) Steponas (Lithuanian) Steffen (Low German) Stefan, Stevo (Macedonian) Estienne (Medieval French) Tipene (Māori) Stefan, Steffen (Norwegian) Estève (Occitan) Stefan, Szczepan, Stefek (Polish) Estêvão (Portuguese) Ștefan, Fane (Romanian) Stepan, Styopa (Russian) Steenie (Scots) Steaphan (Scottish Gaelic) Stefan, Stevan, Stevo, Stjepan (Serbian) Štefan (Slovak) Štefan (Slovene) Esteban (Spanish) Stefan, Staffan (Swedish) Stepan (Ukrainian) Steffan (Welsh)
Surname DescendantsSteffen, Stephens, Stephenson, Stevens, Stevenson (English)
Popularity
People think this name is
natural wholesome strong refined
Images
Icon depicting Saint StephenIcon depicting Saint Stephen
Sources & References
- Lexicon of Greek Personal Names, available from https://search.lgpn.ox.ac.uk/browse.html?facet-nymRef=Στέφανος.
- Liddell, Scott and Jones. An Intermediate Greek–English Lexicon, entry ste/fanos, available from https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dste%2Ffanos.
- Withycombe, Elizabeth Gidley. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. Oxford, 1945, page 120.
- Strong, James. The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, entry g4736, available from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=g4736.
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Entry updated May 26, 2026