Steward
One who manages or looks after another's property, estate or resources.
Name Census estimates that about 603 living Americans carry the first name Steward. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Steward today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Steward births was 1920 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Steward. 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.
People living today
603
~ 1 in 568,415 Americans
Peak year
1920
37 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2002 SSA rank
#9,258
Tracked since 1882
Census
Steward in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 706 people with the first name Steward, which placed it at #16,084 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
#16,084
National first-name rank
People counted
706
706 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
54.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Steward
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Steward is White at 54.8%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Steward 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 Steward at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White54.8% · 387
- Black or African American24.6% · 174
- Hispanic or Latino9.2% · 65
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.1% · 43
- Two or more races3.3% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 14
Popularity
Steward: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Steward from the 1880s through to the 2000s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 217 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Steward 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 Steward during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Stewards live
Origin
Meaning and history of Steward
The name Steward is derived from the Old English word "stiweard", which is a combination of the words "stig" meaning "house" and "weard" meaning "guard" or "keeper". It originally referred to a person who was responsible for managing the household affairs of a nobleman or king.
In the early medieval period, a steward was a high-ranking official in royal and noble households, responsible for overseeing the domestic affairs, managing the household staff, and safeguarding the lord's property. This position was highly respected and often held by trusted advisors and confidants.
The first recorded use of the name Steward dates back to the 11th century, with references found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landholdings and resources in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
One of the earliest and most notable bearers of the name was Steward of Scotland, a hereditary title held by the High Stewards of Scotland, who were responsible for managing the royal household and estates of the Scottish monarchs. The first recorded High Steward was Walter fitz Alan, who held the position from 1165 to 1177.
Throughout history, there have been several influential and notable individuals who bore the name Steward, including:
1. Steward of Wight (c. 1150 - 1227), an English nobleman who served as the Lord of the Isle of Wight and a prominent military leader during the Third Crusade.
2. Steward of Allerdale (c. 1200 - 1268), an English baron and landowner who held significant estates in Cumbria and played a role in the Second Barons' War against King Henry III.
3. Steward Curteys (c. 1260 - 1337), an English knight and landowner who served as a member of the council of regency during the minority of King Edward III.
4. Steward de Arden (c. 1320 - 1386), a wealthy English landowner and Member of Parliament who held extensive estates in Warwickshire and Staffordshire.
5. Steward of Scotland (c. 1394 - 1420), the first of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, who reigned as King Robert III from 1390 until his death.
The name Steward has a rich history, reflecting its origins in the management and guardianship of households and estates, and has been borne by individuals of great significance throughout the centuries.
People
Steward + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Steward 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
Steward: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Steward?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 603 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Steward 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 568,415 US residents.
Is Steward a common name?
We classify Steward as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,229 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Steward most popular?
The single biggest year for Steward was 1920, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Steward is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Steward in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 706 people with the name Steward, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,084 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 Steward 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 Steward?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Steward leans strongly male. 691 people counted with this name were male (98.2%), compared with 13 female bearers (1.8%). 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 Steward?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Steward is White at 54.8%. The next largest groups are Black (24.6%) and Hispanic (9.2%). 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 Steward most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Steward in the 2020 Census, accounting for 54.8% (387 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 Steward in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Steward a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Steward 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 Steward still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Steward 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 Steward 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 common is the name Steward?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.