Stephen: Popularity, Rank and History

By the Baby Name Data Editorial Team · Last updated: October 2026

Stephen has been recorded in U.S. Social Security Administration baby name data in 145 of the 145 years covered by this site, first appearing in 1880 and most recently in 2024. Across that whole span, parents recorded 866,834 births with this name, split between 2,930 girls and 863,904 boys. Because the larger side of that split is boys, this page follows the boys ranking table as its main story, while still reporting the combined total above so the name can be compared fairly with every other name in the top 100 all-time list. Every figure here is a direct count from the SSA file: there are no estimates, no projections, and no names added from any other source.

The single biggest year for Stephen was 1952, when 23,054 boys received the name and it reached rank 21 nationally. A name's peak year matters because it shows the moment when the name competed most successfully against every other name chosen that year. Rank and count tell slightly different stories: the count can rise simply because more babies were born overall, while the rank and the share of births strip out that effect. In 1952, Stephen accounted for 1.19% of all recorded boys births, which is the cleanest measure of how dominant it was at its height compared with peaks reached in smaller or larger birth years.

Stephen by decade

The decade table below is where the long story of Stephen becomes easiest to read. A decade total smooths out single-year spikes and shows whether a name was a brief fashion or a durable fixture. Names that hold high decade totals for forty or fifty years behave very differently from names that post one enormous decade and then fade, and Stephen can be placed on that spectrum directly from these ten-year sums and the best rank it managed inside each decade.

During the 1880s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 81 and 1,684 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1890s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 94 and 1,733 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1900s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 91 and 2,247 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1910s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 80 and 13,503 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1920s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 96 and 15,557 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1930s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 65 and 18,272 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1940s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 19 and 106,810 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1950s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 19 and 207,276 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table.

During the 1960s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 26 and 152,231 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1970s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 27 and 107,812 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1980s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 35 and 113,635 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 1990s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 39 and 75,164 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. During the 2000s, Stephen stayed inside the top 100 for boys, with a best rank of 95 and 28,901 births recorded over the ten years, a solid and visible presence without quite reaching the very top of the table. In the 2010s, Stephen recorded 14,418 births for boys across the decade, with a best annual rank of 201, placing it well down the popularity order for that period. In the 2020s, Stephen recorded 4,661 births for boys across the decade, with a best annual rank of 322, placing it well down the popularity order for that period.

Rank history in selected years

This table samples the record at intervals so the shape of the history is visible at a glance: the birth count, the national rank among boys, and the share of all boys births for that year. Shares are included deliberately. In the 1880 file the recorded birth population is far smaller than in the peak birth years of the twentieth century, so a modest count in 1880 can represent a larger share, and a larger rank, than the same count would earn today. Reading count, rank, and share together is the method this site recommends on every page, and it is explained in full on the methodology page linked in the footer.

Recent years and the other side of the table

Between 2010 and 2024 the annual count moved from 1,820 to 864, a change of -52.5 percent, which is the clearest short-hand for where Stephen stands right now: losing ground in the most recent data. In 2000, for comparison, Stephen recorded 4,137 births for boys, and in 2010 it recorded 1,820. Placing 2024 between those two reference points shows whether the latest figure is part of a steady climb, a steady slide, or a plateau after earlier movement. None of these short windows should be read on their own: a name recovering from a low base can post large percentage gains while still ranking modestly, and a name easing down from a peak can lose percentage points while remaining one of the most used names in the country.

Stephen also appears on the girls side of the file, with 2,930 recorded births between 1880 and 2024. That secondary use is much smaller than the 863,904 births recorded for boys, and SSA ranks each sex separately, so the rank history above follows the boys table only. Counting both sides together, Stephen totals 866,834 recorded births, which is the figure that places it at number 57 on this site's all-time combined list. Readers comparing names should keep the two sides separate, because a rank earned among boys and a rank earned among girls describe two different fields of competing names in the same year.

To explore further, compare Stephen with the full rankings for its peak year (1952) through the years index, browse the decade rankings, or return to the complete A–Z list of name pages. The state pages show how the biggest states ranked names in 2024, which often differs from the national order in the smaller details even when the same few names lead both tables.

Frequently asked questions

How many babies named Stephen were born in 2024?
In 2024 the SSA recorded 864 boys named Stephen, ranked 377 among boys that year.

When was Stephen most popular?
Stephen peaked in 1952 with 23,054 births for boys, reaching rank 21 that year in SSA records.

How many people named Stephen appear in SSA records since 1880?
SSA records show 866,834 births named Stephen from 1880 through 2024, counting both sexes together.

Disclaimer: Baby Name Data publishes statistics drawn from U.S. Social Security Administration baby name records. Figures are counts of Social Security card applications by year of birth and are shown for general information only. Counts below five in any year, sex, or state are not released by the SSA and are not estimated here. Nothing on this page is advice about what to name a child.

Data: U.S. Social Security Administration baby name records, 1880–2024, retrieved October 2026. Source: ssa.gov/oact/babynames/