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Help[Facts] Why is the name "Stephen" always pronounced STEE-vin?
I never understood why it was usually pronounced like that. Why can't you use Steven? I've never heard of "PH" making the "V" sound in English.
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We would have to get input from an expert on medieval English to explain this, but the pronunciation of Stephen with a "v" sound in English goes back at least to the year 1279, because the original spelling used the "ph" as in the Greek name Stephanos that the name is derived from, but there are examples of the name spelled with a "v" from written records in England in 1279.
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