Steffen
Steffen was given to 5 boys in 2025, #13,629 among boys’ names; 1,505 Americans have been recorded with it since 1948 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,400 Americans named Steffen and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 35 years old and half are between 27 and 42.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Steffen by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Steffen mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Steffen is “a male given name, variant of Stefan”
Popular form with reduction of the unstressed syllable.
/ˈʃtɛfən/
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Steffen?
#13,629 among boys’ names, 2025
Steffen fell from #6,265 in 2015 to #13,629 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 7.3 to 2.9 per million.
77 babies in 1991, the peak
Steffen peaked in 1991, when 77 boys were given it, #1,272 among boys’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 6% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #13,629 | 2.9 |
| 2024 | 5 | #13,973 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 5 | #13,910 | 2.9 |
| 2021 | 13 | #6,622 | 7.4 |
| 2020 | 16 | #5,658 | 9.3 |
| 2019 | 13 | #6,723 | 7.2 |
| 2018 | 5 | #13,821 | 2.8 |
| 2017 | 7 | #10,612 | 3.8 |
| 2016 | 12 | #7,083 | 6.3 |
| 2015 | 14 | #6,265 | 7.3 |
Every recorded year (74)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 12 | #6,991 | 6.2 |
| 2013 | 18 | #5,140 | 9.5 |
| 2012 | 12 | #6,974 | 6.3 |
| 2011 | 12 | #6,936 | 6.3 |
| 2010 | 17 | #5,438 | 8.9 |
| 2009 | 14 | #6,380 | 7.1 |
| 2008 | 15 | #6,022 | 7.4 |
| 2007 | 14 | #6,214 | 6.7 |
| 2006 | 9 | #8,623 | 4.4 |
| 2005 | 27 | #3,600 | 13.5 |
| 2004 | 13 | #6,082 | 6.5 |
| 2003 | 19 | #4,391 | 9.6 |
| 2002 | 20 | #4,162 | 10.3 |
| 2001 | 26 | #3,391 | 13.4 |
| 2000 | 22 | #3,736 | 11.2 |
| 1999 | 34 | #2,598 | 17.7 |
| 1998 | 26 | #3,075 | 13.6 |
| 1997 | 36 | #2,337 | 19.1 |
| 1996 | 49 | #1,865 | 25.9 |
| 1995 | 36 | #2,243 | 18.9 |
| 1994 | 54 | #1,682 | 27.9 |
| 1993 | 49 | #1,762 | 25.0 |
| 1992 | 43 | #1,905 | 21.5 |
| 1991 | 77 | #1,272 | 38.1 |
| 1990 | 54 | #1,555 | 26.3 |
| 1989 | 62 | #1,391 | 31.0 |
| 1988 | 57 | #1,387 | 29.8 |
| 1987 | 55 | #1,358 | 29.5 |
| 1986 | 53 | #1,355 | 28.8 |
| 1985 | 41 | #1,590 | 22.2 |
| 1984 | 31 | #1,835 | 17.2 |
| 1983 | 22 | #2,330 | 12.3 |
| 1982 | 20 | #2,506 | 11.0 |
| 1981 | 15 | #3,007 | 8.4 |
| 1980 | 18 | #2,714 | 10.1 |
| 1979 | 7 | #5,291 | 4.1 |
| 1978 | 15 | #2,910 | 9.1 |
| 1977 | 13 | #3,180 | 7.9 |
| 1976 | 15 | #2,805 | 9.6 |
| 1975 | 14 | #2,884 | 9.0 |
| 1974 | 12 | #3,101 | 7.6 |
| 1973 | 18 | #2,304 | 11.5 |
| 1972 | 8 | #3,921 | 4.9 |
| 1971 | 18 | #2,270 | 10.2 |
| 1970 | 12 | #2,872 | 6.5 |
| 1969 | 14 | #2,400 | 7.8 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,554 | 6.9 |
| 1967 | 18 | #1,896 | 10.3 |
| 1966 | 11 | #2,605 | 6.2 |
| 1965 | 13 | #2,355 | 7.0 |
| 1964 | 12 | #2,530 | 6.0 |
| 1963 | 11 | #2,653 | 5.4 |
| 1962 | 13 | #2,349 | 6.3 |
| 1961 | 9 | #3,069 | 4.2 |
| 1960 | 12 | #2,525 | 5.6 |
| 1959 | 7 | #3,576 | 3.3 |
| 1958 | 7 | #3,526 | 3.3 |
| 1957 | 12 | #2,477 | 5.6 |
| 1955 | 6 | #3,835 | 2.9 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,770 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 6 | #3,755 | 3.0 |
| 1952 | 12 | #2,361 | 6.2 |
| 1951 | 9 | #2,828 | 4.8 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,620 | 3.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Steffen a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Steffen has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 74 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Steffen: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Steffen, and how old are they?
1,400 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 1,505 Americans ever recorded as Steffen. The median Steffen alive today is 35 years old; half are between 27 and 42.
The 2020 Census counted 1,692 people named Steffen (22 women and girls, 1,670 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,390 born in the U.S. The Census count is 22% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 91 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 192 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 684 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 310 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 124 |
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).
Names spelled alike
Of these 7 names spelled alike, given to 895,294 babies since 1880, Steffen is the fourth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5 of their 1,085 babies (<1%), the sixth 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 Steffen
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 Steffen and names like it
- Compare Steffen and StephenBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sSteffen peaked in 1991.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Steffen since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Steffen: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1991The year the most babies were named Steffen.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Steffen alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with SMost given first.