Behind the Name: Meaning, Origin and History of the Name Stephen

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STEPHEN

GENDER: Masculine

USAGE: English, Biblical

PRONOUNCED: STEEV-ən (English), STEF-ən (English) [key]

Meaning & History

From the Greek name Στεφανος (Stephanos) meaning "crown". Saint Stephen was a deacon who was stoned to death, as told in Acts in the New Testament, and he is regarded as the first Christian martyr. Due to him, the name became common in the Christian world. It was popularized in England by the Normans.

This was the name of kings of England, Serbia, and Poland, as well as ten popes. It was also borne by the first Christian king of Hungary (10th century), who is regarded as the patron saint of that country. More recent bearers include British physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-) and the American author Stephen King (1947-).

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VARIANT: Steven (English)

DIMINUTIVES: Ste, Steph, Stevie, Steve (English)

OTHER LANGUAGES: Stephanos (Ancient Greek), Stepan (Armenian), Estebe, Eztebe (Basque), Stephanos (Biblical Greek), Stephanus (Biblical Latin), Stefan (Bulgarian), Esteve (Catalan), Stjepan, Štefan, Stevan, Stevo, Stipan, Stipe, Stipo (Croatian), Štěpán (Czech), Stefan, Steffen (Danish), Stefan, Stefanus, Steffen, Stef (Dutch), Tapani, Tahvo, Teppo (Finnish), Étienne, Stéphane (French), Estevo (Galician), Stefan, Steffen, Stephan (German), Stefanos, Stephanos (Greek), István, Pista, Pisti (Hungarian), Stiofán (Irish), Stefano (Italian), Stefans (Latvian), Steponas (Lithuanian), Stefan (Macedonian), Tipene (Maori), Estienne (Medieval French), Stefan, Steffen (Norwegian), Estève (Occitan), Stefan, Szczepan (Polish), Estevão (Portuguese), Ștefan, Fane (Romanian), Stepan (Russian), Steafan, Steaphan, Steenie (Scottish), Stefan, Stevan, Stevo, Stjepan (Serbian), Štefan (Slovak), Štefan (Slovene), Esteban, Estavan (Spanish), Staffan, Stefan (Swedish), Steffan (Welsh)

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