Stefan
Stefan was given to 219 boys in 2025, #1,023 among boys’ names; 21,237 Americans have been recorded with it since 1910 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 19,500 Americans named Stefan and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (92% of everyone recorded); the median is 33 years old and half are between 21 and 43.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Stefan by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Stefan mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Stefan is “a male given name.” Its etymology gives the senses “to crown” (στεφανίζω) and “that which surrounds, crown, wreath” (στέφανος).
From Ancient Greek στεφανίζω (stephanízō, “to crown”) & Ancient Greek στέφανος (stéphanos, “that which surrounds, crown, wreath”).
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Stefan?
#1,023 among boys’ names, 2025
Stefan fell from #800 in 2015 to #1,023 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 0.15 to 0.13 per 1,000.
725 babies in 1991, the peak
Stefan peaked in 1991, when 725 babies were given it (719 boys, #339 among boys’ names). The 219 births of 2025 are 30% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 219 | #1,023 | 0.13 |
| 2024 | 226 | #996 | 0.13 |
| 2023 | 234 | #962 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 239 | #951 | 0.14 |
| 2021 | 257 | #895 | 0.15 |
| 2020 | 257 | #881 | 0.15 |
| 2019 | 258 | #861 | 0.14 |
| 2018 | 249 | #881 | 0.14 |
| 2017 | 314 | #751 | 0.17 |
| 2016 | 264 | #854 | 0.14 |
Every recorded year (114)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 293 | #800 | 0.15 |
| 2014 | 260 | #855 | 0.14 |
| 2013 | 256 | #837 | 0.14 |
| 2012 | 218 | #935 | 0.11 |
| 2011 | 238 | #880 | 0.13 |
| 2010 | 240 | #876 | 0.13 |
| 2009 | 202 | #984 | 0.10 |
| 2008 | 194 | #1,007 | 0.10 |
| 2007 | 212 | #938 | 0.10 |
| 2006 | 223 | #887 | 0.11 |
| 2005 | 241 | #800 | 0.12 |
| 2004 | 227 | #797 | 0.11 |
| 2003 | 274 | #697 | 0.14 |
| 2002 | 283 | #662 | 0.15 |
| 2001 | 304 | #625 | 0.16 |
| 2000 | 360 | #571 | 0.18 |
| 1999 | 362 | #554 | 0.19 |
| 1998 | 390 | #530 | 0.20 |
| 1997 | 503 | #447 | 0.27 |
| 1996 | 454 | #480 | 0.24 |
| 1995 | 530 | #429 | 0.28 |
| 1994 | 588 | #396 | 0.30 |
| 1993 | 601 | #383 | 0.31 |
| 1992 | 614 | #376 | 0.31 |
| 1991 | 719 | #339 | 0.36 |
| 1990 | 638 | #366 | 0.31 |
| 1989 | 668 | #346 | 0.33 |
| 1988 | 607 | #346 | 0.32 |
| 1987 | 514 | #377 | 0.28 |
| 1986 | 491 | #375 | 0.27 |
| 1985 | 423 | #414 | 0.23 |
| 1984 | 339 | #454 | 0.19 |
| 1983 | 256 | #522 | 0.14 |
| 1982 | 255 | #536 | 0.14 |
| 1981 | 228 | #566 | 0.13 |
| 1980 | 235 | #562 | 0.13 |
| 1979 | 204 | #600 | 0.12 |
| 1978 | 219 | #567 | 0.13 |
| 1977 | 227 | #555 | 0.14 |
| 1976 | 208 | #561 | 0.13 |
| 1975 | 220 | #543 | 0.14 |
| 1974 | 220 | #542 | 0.14 |
| 1973 | 252 | #490 | 0.16 |
| 1972 | 257 | #490 | 0.16 |
| 1971 | 257 | #510 | 0.15 |
| 1970 | 323 | #455 | 0.17 |
| 1969 | 217 | #533 | 0.12 |
| 1968 | 165 | #593 | 0.09 |
| 1967 | 178 | #563 | 0.10 |
| 1966 | 141 | #625 | 0.08 |
| 1965 | 155 | #616 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 137 | #662 | 0.07 |
| 1963 | 183 | #584 | 0.09 |
| 1962 | 178 | #585 | 0.09 |
| 1961 | 154 | #633 | 0.07 |
| 1960 | 134 | #678 | 0.06 |
| 1959 | 94 | #792 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 57 | #1,014 | 0.03 |
| 1957 | 63 | #963 | 0.03 |
| 1956 | 86 | #806 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 57 | #1,000 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 62 | #944 | 0.03 |
| 1953 | 59 | #937 | 0.03 |
| 1952 | 60 | #924 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 60 | #912 | 0.03 |
| 1950 | 53 | #955 | 0.03 |
| 1949 | 53 | #956 | 0.03 |
| 1948 | 40 | #1,142 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 41 | #1,145 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 23 | #1,501 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 21 | #1,487 | 0.02 |
| 1944 | 28 | #1,281 | 0.02 |
| 1943 | 18 | #1,758 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 22 | #1,529 | 0.02 |
| 1941 | 9 | #2,628 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 7 | #3,100 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 16 | #1,786 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 15 | #1,889 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 6 | #3,486 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,165 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 9 | #2,689 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 6 | #3,632 | 0.01 |
| 1933 | 7 | #3,246 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 7 | #3,363 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 8 | #3,220 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 6 | #4,095 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 8 | #3,414 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 14 | #2,288 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 8 | #3,366 | 0.01 |
| 1924 | 12 | #2,617 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 9 | #3,144 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 8 | #3,496 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 10 | #2,964 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 20 | #1,813 | 0.02 |
| 1919 | 12 | #2,494 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 22 | #1,643 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 20 | #1,684 | 0.02 |
| 1916 | 13 | #2,244 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 12 | #2,290 | 0.01 |
| 1914 | 8 | #2,619 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 9 | #2,070 | 0.02 |
| 1912 | 7 | #2,240 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 5 | #1,966 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 7 | #1,405 | 0.04 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Stefan a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Stefan has been given almost only to boys: 42 girls in 114 years of records.
Girls and boys named Stefan: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Stefan, and how old are they?
19,500 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 92% of the 21,237 Americans ever recorded as Stefan. The median Stefan alive today is 33 years old; half are between 21 and 43.
The 2020 Census counted 23,384 people named Stefan (123 women and girls, 23,261 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 18,587 born in the U.S. The Census count is 26% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 53 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,130 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,080 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 7,580 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,390 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 3,300 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Stefan born?
The states with the most babies named Stefan are New York, Florida and California, with 32% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 24 | #636 | 1.5× |
| Florida | 18 | #842 | 1.2× |
| California | 15 | #1,292 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 15 | #1,342 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 15 | #644 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 14 | #673 | 1.1× |
| New Jersey | 11 | #646 | 1.2× |
| Virginia | 10 | #721 | 0.8× |
| Massachusetts | 8 | #614 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 8 | #1,070 | 0.7× |
Where Stefan is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Stefan is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.5 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Stefan with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 55,535 babies since 1880, Stefan is the second most given (38% of them). In 2025 it was given to 219 of their 342 babies (64%), the most given that year.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Stefan
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Stefan and names like it
- Compare Stefan and StephanBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sStefan peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Stefan since 1910.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Stefan.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Stefan alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.