Popularity of the name Stephanie, 1891–2025

Stephanie was at its most popular in 1984, when 23,025 girls were given the name: about 1 in 73 girls born in the U.S. that year, ranking #6. In 2025, 543 girls were named Stephanie, ranking #557. In all, Social Security counts 745,148 girls named Stephanie since 1891. Social Security’s records also list 2,638 boys named Stephanie.

Peak year

1984

Rank in 1984

#6

Babies in 1984

23,025

Rank in 2025

#557

Total since 1891

745,148

Where it stands now

In the past decade the name slipped from #209 in 2015 to #557 in 2025: 1,558 girls got it in 2015, and 543 in 2025.

Decade by decade

Its best decade was the 1980s, when 218,173 girls were named Stephanie, #6 for the decade. It ranked #1,003 in the 1890s and #483 in the 2020s so far.

Every 20 years in the records: 24 in 1900 (#742), 313 in 1920 (#370), 394 in 1940 (#319), 5,265 in 1960 (#91), 17,841 in 1980 (#13), 7,028 in 2000 (#40) and 703 in 2020 (#437).

Highs and lows

The most girls given the name in a single year was 24,864, in 1990. That is not its peak year: Social Security’s records hold more girls for 1990 than for 1984, so the name’s share of births was smaller. Its best rank, #6, came in its peak year.

Every year

The table lists every year from 1891 to 2025 in which Social Security recorded at least 5 girls named Stephanie, with the name’s rank that year.

How these numbers are counted

Social Security publishes, for every year since 1880, how many babies of each sex were given each name, counting any name given to at least 5. A name’s rank is its place that year among names for the same sex, by number of babies. Names with the same count share a rank here, while Social Security’s own lists break ties alphabetically, so a rank can differ from theirs by a place or two. A name’s share is the number of babies given it divided by all babies of that sex in the data that year, and its peak is the year that share was highest. Shares rather than counts set the peak, because far more babies were born in some years than others: counting babies alone would pull nearly every name’s peak toward the 1946–1964 baby boom.

Source: the U.S. Social Security Administration’s national baby name data, from Social Security card applications for babies born in the U.S. A name is left out of a year when fewer than 5 babies of one sex got it, and counts before about 1937 are incomplete, because many people born then never applied for a card. See how Baby Boom builds its data. Figures may contain errors.