Stellan
A Scandinavian name meaning "calm, still, or steady".
Name Census estimates that about 1,396 living Americans carry the first name Stellan. It is a predominantly male name (98.8% of registrations). The average person named Stellan today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stellan births was 2024 (132 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stellan. 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 Stellan with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Stellan is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.4K
~ 1 in 245,526 Americans
Peak year
2024
132 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,441
Tracked since 1998
Census
Stellan in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 839 people with the first name Stellan, which placed it at #14,135 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
#14,135
National first-name rank
People counted
839
839 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Stellan
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stellan is White at 73.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.2%) and Hispanic (9.9%). 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 Stellan 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 Stellan at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.4% · 616
- Two or more races12.2% · 102
- Hispanic or Latino9.9% · 83
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.0% · 25
- Black or African American1.1% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Stellan
Stellan leans heavily male at 98.8% of total registrations, but 17 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Stellan as a male name
- Ranked #1,441 in 2024
- 126 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (126 births)
Stellan as a female name
- Ranked #14,996 in 2024
- 6 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stellan leans strongly male. 825 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.3%).
Popularity
Stellan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stellan from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 695 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stellan 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 Stellan during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stellans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Stellan, while Oregon, North Carolina, Massachusetts recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 34 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stellan
The name Stellan is a Swedish masculine given name derived from the Old Norse word "stiǫrnu," meaning "star." The name's etymology can be traced back to the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries AD, when the Norse people inhabited Scandinavia and parts of Northern Europe.
Historically, the name Stellan was used among the Norse people, who were known for their seafaring and navigation skills. The reference to stars in the name's meaning likely reflects the importance of celestial bodies in navigation during that era. The earliest recorded instances of the name Stellan date back to the 13th century in Sweden.
One of the earliest notable figures with the name Stellan was Stellan Arvidsson, a Swedish clergyman and writer who lived from 1455 to 1519. He is known for his work "Frihetsvisorna" (Songs of Freedom), which played a significant role in the Swedish struggle for independence from the Kalmar Union.
Another historical figure with the name Stellan was Stellan Pettersson, a Swedish pirate and naval commander who lived from 1624 to 1696. He is remembered for his daring exploits during the Scanian War, where he commanded a fleet of privateers against Danish and Dutch ships.
In more recent history, the name Stellan gained prominence through the Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, born in 1951. He has appeared in numerous films, including "Good Will Hunting," "The Hunt for Red October," and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Skarsgård's sons, Alexander, Bill, and Valter, have also become successful actors, carrying on the family's legacy in the entertainment industry.
Another notable individual with the name Stellan is Stellan Nilsson, a Swedish professional golfer born in 1936. He won the British Open in 1966 and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2009.
Lastly, Stellan Wollter, a Swedish politician and diplomat born in 1920, served as the Swedish Ambassador to the United Nations from 1977 to 1983 and played a crucial role in mediating conflicts and promoting international cooperation during his tenure.
People
Stellan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stellan 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
Stellan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stellan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,396 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stellan 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 245,526 US residents.
Is Stellan a common name?
We classify Stellan as "Rare". It ranks above 92% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,407 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stellan most popular?
The single biggest year for Stellan was 2024, when 132 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stellan is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Stellan in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 839 people with the name Stellan, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,135 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 Stellan 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 Stellan?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Stellan leans strongly male. 825 people counted with this name were male (98.7%), compared with 11 female bearers (1.3%). 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 Stellan?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Stellan is White at 73.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (12.2%) and Hispanic (9.9%). 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 Stellan most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Stellan in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.4% (616 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 Stellan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Stellan a male name?
Yes, 98.8% of people registered as Stellan in the SSA data are male. 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 Stellan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Stellan 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 Stellan 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 share the name Stellan?
You can see how many people share the name Stellan on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.