Stephanie
From the Greek name Στέφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown" or "wreath".
Name Census estimates that about 674,276 living Americans carry the first name Stephanie. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Stephanie today is around 43 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Stephanie births was 1990 (24,966 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Stephanie. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Stephanie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 2,638 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1980s, recent registration numbers for Stephanie have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
674K
~ 1 in 508 Americans
Peak year
1990
24,966 babies that year
Average age
43
years old
2011 SSA rank
#533
Tracked since 1891
Gender
Gender distribution for Stephanie
Out of the 747,234 babies given the name Stephanie since 1880, 99.6% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Stephanie as a male name
- Ranked #12,067 in 2011
- 6 male births in 2011
- Peak: 1989 (143 births)
Stephanie as a female name
- Ranked #533 in 2024
- 571 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (24,864 births)
Popularity
Stephanie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Stephanie from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 219,183 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Stephanie 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 Stephanie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stephanies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Stephanie, while Vermont, Wyoming, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 14,576 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Stephanie
The name Stephanie traces its origins back to the Greek language and culture. It is a feminine form of the male name Stephanos, which means "crown" or "wreath." The name likely emerged in the ancient Greek-speaking world sometime around the 1st century AD.
In its earliest known uses, Stephanie was a relatively uncommon name, primarily found among Greek-speaking Christians in the eastern Mediterranean region. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name appears in a 5th-century Greek manuscript, where it is listed as the name of a Christian martyr.
As the centuries passed, the name gradually spread to other parts of Europe, particularly in regions influenced by the Byzantine Empire and the Eastern Orthodox Church. It was adopted into various languages, including Russian (Степанида, Stepanida) and Ukrainian (Стефанія, Stefaniya).
In the Middle Ages, Stephanie remained a relatively rare name, but it was occasionally bestowed upon noblewomen and members of royal families. One notable example is Stephanie of Aquitaine (c. 1095-1159), a Duchess of Burgundy and a distant relative of Eleanor of Aquitaine.
The name gained wider popularity during the Renaissance and Reformation periods, particularly in Protestant regions of Europe. One of the earliest well-known bearers of the name was Stephanie de Bourbon-Lannoy (1508-1583), a French noblewoman and supporter of the Huguenot cause.
Over the centuries, several other notable individuals have borne the name Stephanie, including Stephanie de Longueville (1619-1694), a French noblewoman and patron of the arts; Stephanie Louise de Bourbon (1789-1860), a Grand Duchess of Baden; and Stephanie of Monaco (1836-1897), a German-born Princess of Monaco.
In the 20th century, the name Stephanie gained further popularity, particularly in English-speaking countries. One of the most famous bearers of the name was Stephanie St. Clair (1897-1982), a French-born American fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded the company Counsel House, Inc.
Other notable Stephanies from the 20th century include Stephanie Kwolek (1923-2014), an American chemist who invented Kevlar; Stephanie Mills (born 1957), an American singer and actress; and Stephanie Courtney (born 1970), an American actress best known for portraying the character "Flo" in Progressive Insurance commercials.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Stephanie
People
Stephanie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Stephanie 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
Stephanie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Stephanie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 674,276 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Stephanie 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 508 US residents.
Is Stephanie a common name?
We classify Stephanie as "Very Common". It ranks above 99.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 747,234 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Stephanie most popular?
The single biggest year for Stephanie was 1990, when 24,966 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Stephanie is about 43 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Stephanie a female name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Stephanie 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.
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.